
Qass 
Book. 



BEQUEST OF 
ALBERT ADSIT CLEMONS 
(Not available for exchange) 



THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



AMD TUB 



Court of Charles X 




^^j^ 




THE 



Duchess of Berry 



AND THE 



COURT OF CHARLES X 



BY 

IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND 



WITH PORTRAITS 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1 901 




COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 

Bequest 

Albert Adsit Olemonfl 

Aug. 24, 1038 

(Not available for exchange) 



qc:-L|'?^?7 



THE CAXTON PRESS 
NEW YORK. 



CONTENTS 



-♦<>^ 



CHAPTER V^&S 

I. The Accession or Charles X 1 

II. The Entry into Paris H 

III. The Tombs of Saint-Denis 20 

IV. The Funeral of Louis XVIII 29 

V. The King 41 

VI. The Dauphin and Dauphiness 48 

VII. Madame... » ^8 

VIII. The Orleans Family.. 72 

IX. The Prince of Conde 81 

X. The Court 90 

XI, The Duke of Doudeauville 104 

XII. The Household of the Duchess of Berry.... 114 

XIII. The Preparations for the Coronation 123 

XIV. The Coronation 139 

XV. Close of the Sojourn at Rheims 152 

XVI, The Re-entrance into Paris 160 

XVII. The Jubilee of 1826 166 

XVIII. The Duchess of Gontaut 177 

y 



Vl COJSfTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX. The Three Governors 187 

XX. The Keview op the National Guard 198 

XXI. The First Disquietude 208 

XXII. The Martignac Ministry. , 217 

XXIII. The Journey in the West 224 

XXIV. The Mary Stuart Ball 237 

XXV. The Fine Arts 245 

XXVI. The Theatre of Madame . . . , 257 

XXVII. Dieppe 266 

XXVIII. The Prince de Polignao 276 

XXIX. General de Bourmont 286 

XXX. The Journey in the South 292 



LIST OF PORTRAITS 

MARii] Caroline Frontispiece 

Charles X Facing page 42 

The Duke of Bordeaux and his Sister . . . 182 

Prince de Polignac 280 



THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE 
COURT OF CHARLES X 



THE ACCESSION OF CHAELES X 

THURSDAY, the 16tli of September, 1824, at the 
moment when Louis XVIII. was breathing his 
last in his chamber of the Chateau des Tuileries, 
the courtiers were gathered in the Gallery of Diana. 
It was four o'clock in the morning. The Duke and 
the Duchess of Angouleme, the Duchess of Berry, 
the Duke and the Duchess of Orleans, the Bishop of 
Hermopolis, and the physicians were in the chamber 
of the dying man. When the King had given up 
the ghost, the Duke of Angouleme, who became 
Dauphin, threw himself at the feet of his father, 
who became King, and kissed his hand with respect- 
ful tenderness. The princes and princesses followed 
this example, and he who bore thenceforward the 
title of Charles X., sobbing, embraced them all. 
They knelt about the bed. The Be Profundis was 
recited. Then the new King sprinkled holy water 

1 



THE DUCHESS OF BEE BY 



on tlie body of his brother and kissed the icy hand. 
An instant later M. de Blacas, opening the door of 
the Gallery of Diana, called out: "Gentlemen, the 
King! " And Charles X. appeared. 

Let us listen to the Duchess of Orleans. "At 
these words, in the twinkling of an eye, all the 
crowd of courtiers deserted the Gallery to surround 
and follow the new King. It was like a torrent. 
We were borne along by it, and only at the door of 
the Hall of the Throne, my husband bethought him- 
self that we no longer had aught to do there. We 
returned home, reflecting much on the feebleness of 
our poor humanity, and the nothingness of the 
things of this world." 

Marshal Marmont, who was in the Gallery of 
Diana at the moment of the King's death, was much 
struck by the two phrases pronounced at an instant's 
interval by M. de Damas : " Gentlemen, the King is 
dead! The King, gentlemen ! " 

He wrote in his Memoirs : " It is difficult to de- 
scribe the sensation produced by this double an- 
nouncement in so brief a time. The new sovereign 
was surrounded by his officers, and everything except 
the person of the King was in the accustomed order. 
Beautiful and great thought, this uninterrupted life 
of the depository of the sovereign power! By this 
fiction there is no break in this protecting force, so 
necessary to the preservation of society." The Mar- 
shal adds : " The government had been in fact for a 
year and more in the hands of Monsieur. Thus the 



THE ACCESSION OF CBABLES X % 



same order of things was to continue ; nevertheless, 
there was emotion perceptible on the faces of those 
present; one might see hopes spring up and exist- 
ences wither. Every one accompanied the new 
King to his Pavilion of Marsan. He announced to 
his ministers that he confirmed them in their func- 
tions. Then every one withdi-ew." 

While the Duchess of Berry was present at the 
death of Louis XYIII., the Duke of Bordeaux and 
his sister, Mademoiselle, then, the one four, the 
other five years of age, remained at the Chateau of 
Saint Cloud, with the Governess of the Children of 
France, the Viscountess of Gontaut-Biron. This 
lady passed the night of the 15th of September in 
great anxiety. She listened on the balcony, await- 
ing and dreading the news. 

At the moment that the day began to dawn, she 
heard afar the gallop of a horse that drew near, 
passed the bridge, ascended the avenue, reached the 
Chateau, and in response to the challenge of the 
guard, she distinguished the words: "An urgent 
message for Madame the Governess." It was a 
letter from the new King. Madame de Gontaut 
trembled as she opened it. Charles X. announced 
to her, in sad words, that Louis XVIII. was no more, 
and directed her to made ready for the arrival of the 
royal family. " Lodge me where you and the gover- 
nor shall see fit. We shall probably pass three or four 
days at Saint Cloud. Communicate my letter to the 
Marshal. I have not strength to write another word. " 



4 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

"The day was beginning to break," we read in 
the unpublished Memoirs of the Governess of the 
Children of France. " I went to the bed of Monsei- 
gneur. He was awakened. He was not surprised, 
and said nothing, and allowed himself to be dressed. 
Not so with Mademoiselle. I told her gently of the 
misfortune that had come upon her family. I was 
agitated. She questioned me, asking where was 
hon-papa. I told her that he was still in Paris, but 
was coming to Saint Cloud; then I added: 'Your 
bon-papa, Mademoiselle, is King, since the King is 
no more.' She reflected, then, repeating the word: 
'King! Oh! that indeed is the worst of the story.' 
I was astonished, and wished her to explain her idea ; 
she simply repeated it. I thought then she had con- 
ceived the notion of a king always rolled about in 
his chair." 

The same day the court arrived. It was no longer 
the light carriage that used almost daily to bring 
Monsieur, to the great joy of his grandchildren. It 
was the royal coach with eight horses, livery, escort, 
and body-guard. The Duke of Bordeaux and his 
sister were on the porch with their governess. On 
perceiving the coach, instead of shouting with pleas- 
ure, as was their custom, they remained motionless 
and abashed. Charles X. was pale and silent. In 
the vestibule he paused: "What chamber have you 
prepared for me?" he said sadly to Madame de Gon- 
taut, glancing at the door of his own. The gover- 
ness replied: "The apartment of Monsieur is ready, 



TBW ACCESSION OF CHAHLES X 



and the chamber of the King as well." The sover- 
eign paused, then clasping his hands in silence : " It 
must be! " he cried. "Let us ascend." 

They followed him. He passed through the apart- 
ments. On the threshold of the royal chamber 
Madame de Gontaut brought to Charles X. the Duke 
of Bordeaux and Mademoiselle and he embraced 
them. The poor children were disconcerted by so 
much sadness. " As soon as I can," he said to them, 
"I promise to come to see you." Then turning to 
the company: " I would be alone." All withdrew in 
silence. The Dauphiness was weeping. The Dau- 
phin had disappeared. Everything was gloomy. No 
one spoke. Thus passed the first day of the reign of 
Charles X. 

The next day the King received the felicitations 
of the Corps de I'Etat. Many addresses were de- 
livered. "All contained the expression of the pub- 
lic love," said Marshal Marmont in his Memoirs, 
" and I believe that they were sincere ; but the love 
of the people is, of all loves, the most fragile, 
the most apt to evaporate. The King responded in 
an admirable manner, with appropriateness, intelli- 
gence, and warmth. His responses, less correct, per- 
haps, than those of Louis XVIH., had movement and 
spirit, and it is so precious to hear from those in- 
vested with the sovereign powers things that come 
from the heart, that Charles X. had a great success. 
I listened to him with care, and I sincerely admired 
his facility in varying his language and modifying 



THE BUCHES8 OF BEBBT 



his expressions according to the eminence of the 
authority from whom the compliments came." 

The reception lasted several hours. When the 
coaches had rolled away and when quiet was re-es- 
tablished in the Chateau of Saint Cloud, Charles X., 
in the mourning costume of the Kings, the violet 
coat, went to the apartment of the Duke of Bordeaux 
and his sister. The usher cried: "The King!" 
The two children, frightened, and holding each other 
by the hand, remained silent. Charles X. opened his 
arms and they threw themselves into them. Then the 
sovereign seated himself in his accustomed chair and 
held his grandchildren for some moments pressed to 
his heart. The Duke of Bordeaux covered the hands 
and the face of his grandfather with kisses. Made- 
moiselle regarded attentively the altered features of 
the King and his mourning dress, novel to her. She 
asked him why he wore such a coat. Charles X. did 
not reply, and sighed. Then he questioned the gov- 
erness as to the impression made on the children by 
the death of Louis XVIII. Madame de Gontaut 
hesitated to answer, recalling the strange phrase of 
Mademoiselle: "King! Oh I that indeed is the 
worst of the story." But the little Princess, cling- 
ing to her notion, began to repeat the unlucky phrase. 
Charles X., willing to give it a favorable interpreta- 
tion, assured Mademoiselle that he would see her as 
often as in the past, and that nothing should sepa- 
rate him from her. The two children, with the heed- 
lessness of their age, took on their usual gaiety, and 



THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES X 



ran to the window to watch, the market-men, the 
coal heavers, and the fishwomen, who had come to 
Saint Cloud to congratulate the new King. 

The griefs of sovereigns in the period of their 
prosperity do not last so long as those of private 
persons. Courtiers take too much pains to lighten 
them. With Charles X. grief at the loss of his 
brother was quickly followed by the enjoyment of 
reigning. Chateaubriand, who, when he wished to, 
had the art of carrying flattery to lyric height, pub- 
lished his pamphlet: Le roi est mortf Vive le roif 
In it he said: "Frenchmen, he who announced to 
you Louis le Ddsir^, who made his voice heard by 
you in the days of storm, and makes to you to-day 
of Charles X. in circumstances very different. He is 
no longer obliged to tell you what the King is who 
comes to you, what his misfortunes are, his virtues, 
his rights to the throne and to your love ; he is no 
longer obliged to de^Dict his person, to inform you 
how many members of his family still exist. You 
know him, this Bourbon, the first to come, after our 
disaster, worthy herald of old France, to cast him- 
self, a branch of lilies in his hand, between you and 
Europe. Your eyes rest with love and pleasure on 
this Prince, who in the ripeness of years has pre- 
served the charm and elegance of his youth, and 
who now, adorned with the diadem, still is but one 
Frenchman the more in the midst of you. You repeat 
with emotion so many happy mots dropped by this 
new monarch, who from the loyalty of his heart draws 



8 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBT 



the grace of happy speech. What one of us would 
not confide to him his life, his fortune, his honor? 
The man whom we should all wish as a friend, we 
have as King. Ah! Let us try to make him forget 
the sacrifices of his life I May the crown weigh 
lightly on the white head of this Christian Knight I 
Pious as Saint Louis, affable, compassionate, and 
just as Louis XIL, courtly as Francis I., frank as 
Henry IV., may he be happy with all the happiness 
he has missed in his long past! May the throne 
where so many monarchs have encountered tempests, 
be for him a place of repose ! Devoted subjects, let 
us crowd to the feet of our well-loved sovereign, let 
us recognize in him the model of honor, the living 
principle of our laws, the soul of our monarchical 
society; let us bless a guardian heredity, and may 
legitimacy without pangs give birth to a new King ! 
Let our soldiers cover with their flags the father of 
the Duke of Angouleme. May watchful Europe, 
may the factions, if such there be still, see in the 
accord of all Frenchmen, in the union of the people 
and the army, the pledge of our strength and of the 
peace of the world! " The author of the Grenie du 
Christianisme thus closed his prose dithyramb: " May 
God grant to Louis XVIII. the crown immortal of 
Saint Louis ! May God bless the mortal crown of 
Saint Louis on the head of Charles X. ! " 

In this chant in honor of the King and of royalty, 
M. de Chateaubriand did not forget the Duke and 
Duchess of Angouleme, nor the Duchess of Berry and 



THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES X 



the Duke of Bordeaux. "Let us salute," lie said, 
" the Dauphin and Dauphiness, names that bind the 
past to the future, calling up touching and noble 
memories, indicating the own son and the successor 
of the monarch, names under which we find the 
liberator of Spain and the daughter of Louis XVI. 
The child of Europe^ the new Henry, thus makes one 
step toward the throne of his ancestor, and his 
young mother guides him to the throne that she 
might have ascended." 

Happy in the ease with which the change in the 
reign had taken place, and seeing the unanimous 
manifestations of devotion and enthusiasm by which 
the throne was surrounded, the Duchess of Berry 
regarded the future with entire confidence. Inclined 
by nature to optimism, the young and amiable Prin- 
cess believed herself specially protected by Provi- 
dence, and would have considered as a sort of impi- 
ety anything else than absolute faith in the duration 
of the monarchy and in respect for the rights of her 
son. Had any one of the court expressed the slight- 
est doubt as to the future destiny of the Child of 
Miracle^ he would have been looked upon as an alarm- 
ist or a coward. The royalists were simple enough 
to believe that, thanks to this child, the era of revo- 
lutions was forever closed. They said to themselves 
that French royalty, like British royalty, would have 
its Whigs and its Tories, but that it was forever rid 
of Republicans and Imperialists. At the accession of 
Charles X. the word Republican, become a synonym 



10 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

of Jacobin, awoke only memories of the guillotine 
and the "Terror." A moderate republic seemed but 
a chimera ; only that of Robespierre and Marat was 
thought of. The eagle was no longer mentioned; 
and as to the eaglet, he was a prisoner at Vienna. 
What chance of reigning had the Duke of Reich^ 
stadt, that child of thirteen, condemned by all the 
Powers of Europe ? By what means could he mount 
the throne ? Who would be regent in his name ? A 
Bonaparte? The forgetful Marie Louise? Such 
hypotheses were relegated to the domain of pure 
fantasy. Apart from a few fanatical old soldiers 
who persisted in saying that Napoleon was not dead, 
no one, in 1824, believed in the resurrection of the 
Empire. As for Orleanism, it was as yet a myth. 
The Duke of Orleans himself was not an Orleanist. 
Of all the courtiers of Charles X., he was the most 
eager, the most zealous, the most enthusiastic. In 
whatever direction she turned her glance, the Duch- 
ess of Berry saw about her only reasons for satisfac- 
tion and security. 



II 

THE ENTRY INTO PAEIS 

THE Duchess of Berry took part in the solemn 
entry into Paris made by Charles X., Monday, 
27th September, 1824. She was in the same carriage 
as the Dauphiness and the Duchess and Mademoi- 
selle of Orleans. The King left the Chateau of Saint 
Cloud at half -past eleven in the morning, passed 
through the Bois de Boulogne, and mounted his 
horse at the Barri^re de I'Etoile. There he was 
saluted by a salvo of one hundred and one guns, and 
the Count de Chambral, Prefect of the Seine, sur- 
rounded by the members of the Municipal Council, 
presented to him the keys of the city. Charles X. 
replied to the address of the Prefect: "I deposit 
these keys with you, because I cannot place them in 
more faithful hands. Guard them, gentlemen. It is 
with a profound feeling of pain and joy that I enter 
within these walls, in the midst of my good people, 
— of joy because I well know that I shall employ and 
consecrate all my days to the very last, to assure and 
consolidate their happiness." Accompanied by the 
princes and princesses of his family and by a mag- 
nificent staff, the sovereign descended the Champs- 

H 



12 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Elys^es to the Avenue of Marigny, followed that 
avenue, and entered the Rue du Faubourg Saint- 
Honore, before the Palace of the Elys^e. At this 
moment, the weather, which had been cold and som- 
bre, brightened, and the rain, which had been falling 
for a long time, ceased. The King heard two child- 
voices crying joyously, '' Bon-papa.'^ It was the lit- 
tle Duke of Bordeaux and his sister at a window of 
an entresol of the Elysee which looked out upon 
the street. On perceiving his two grandchildren, 
Charles X. could not resist the impulse to approach 
them. He left the ranks of the cortege, to the de- 
spair of the grand-master of ceremonies. The horse 
reared. A sergeant-de-ville seized him by the bit. 
Listen to Madame de Gontaut: "I was frightened, 
and cried out. The King scolded me for it after- 
ward. I confessed my weakness ; to fall at the first 
step in Paris would have seemed an ill omen. The 
King subdued his fretful horse, said a few tender 
words to the children, raised his hat gracefully to the 
ladies surrounding us. A thousand voices shouted: 
Vive le Roi ! The grand-master was reassured, the 
horse was quieted, and the King resumed his place. 
The carriage of the princes and princesses passing 
at that moment, the little princes saw them — it 
was an added joy." 

The cortege followed this route : the Rue du Fau- 
bourg Saint-Honor^, the boulevards to the Rue Saint- 
Denis, the Rue Saint-Denis, the Place du Chatelet, 
the Pont au Change, the Rue de la Barillerie, the 



THE ENTBT INTO PABIS 13 

Marche-Neuf, the Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame, the Par- 
vis. At every moment the King reined in his superb 
Arab horse to regard more at ease the delighted 
crowd. He smiled and saluted with an air of kind- 
ness and a grace that produced the best impression. 
Charles X. was an excellent horseman ; he presented 
the figure and air of a young man. The contrast 
naturally fixed in all minds, between his vigorous 
attitude and that of his predecessor, an infirm and 
feeble old man, added to the general satisfaction. 
The houses were decorated with white flags spangled 
with fleurs-de-lis. Triumphal arches were erected 
along the route of the sovereign. The streets and 
boulevards were strewn with flowers. At the sight 
of the monarch the happy people redoubled their 
acclamations. Benjamin Constant shouted: "Vive 
le roi! " — "Ah, I have captured you at last," smil- 
ingly remarked Charles X. 

Reaching the Parvis de Notre-Dame, the sovereign, 
before entering the Cathedral, paused before the 
threshold of the H6tel-Dieu. Fifty nuns presented 
themselves before him, "Sire," said the Prioress, 
"you pause before the house so justly termed the 
H6tel-Dieu, which has always been honored with 
the protection of our kings. We shall never for- 
get. Sire, that the sick have seen at their bedside 
the Prince who is to-day their King. They know 
that at this moment your march is arrested by charity. 
We shall tell them that the King is concerned for 
their ills, and it will be a solace to them. Sire> 



14 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

we offer you our homage, our vows, and the assur- 
ance that we shall always fulfil with zeal our duties 
to the sick." Charles X. replied: "I know with 
what zeal you and these gentlemen serve the poor. 
Continue, Mesdames, and you can count on my 
benevolence and on my constant protection." 

The King was received at the Metropolitan Church 
by the Archbishop of Paris at the head of his clergy. 
The Domine salvum^ fac regem^ was intoned and 
repeated by the deputations of all the authorities 
and by the crowd filling the nave, the side-aisles, 
and the tribunes of the vast basilica. Then a numer- 
ous body of singers sang the Te Deum. On leaving 
the church, the King remounted his horse and re- 
turned to the Tuileries, along the quais, to the 
sound of salvos of artillery and the acclamations of 
the crowd. The Duchess of Berry, who had followed 
the King through all the ceremonies, entered the 
Chateau with him, and immediately addressed to the 
Governess of the Children of France this note : " From 
Saint Cloud to Notre-Dame, from Notre-Dame to the 
Tuileries, the King has been accompanied by accla- 
mations, signs of approval and of love." 

Charles X., on Thursday, the 30th September, had 
to attend a review on the Champ-de-Mars. The 
morning of this day, the readers of all the journals 
found in them a decree abolishing the censorship and 
restoring liberty of the press. The enthusiasm was 
immense. The Journal de Paris wrote : " To-day all 
is joy, confidence, hope. The enthusiasm excited by 



THi: ENTBY INTO PABI8 15 

the new reign would be far too ill at ease under a 
censorship. None can be exercised over the public 
gratitude. It must be allowed full expansion. 
Happy is the Council of His Majesty to greet 
the new King with an act so worthy of him. It 
is the banquet of this joyous accession; for to give 
liberty to the press is to give free course to the 
benedictions merited by Charles X." 

The review was superb. After having heard Mass 
in the chapel of the Chateau of the Tuileries, the 
King mounted his horse at half-past eleven, and, ac- 
companied by the Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans, 
and the Duke of Bourbon, proceeded to the Champ- 
de-Mars. Two caliches followed; the one was oc- 
cupied by the Dauphiness, the Duchess of Berry, and 
the Duke of Bordeaux in the uniform of a colonel 
of cuirassiers, ^ — a four-year old colonel, — the other 
by the Duchess of Orleans and Mademoiselle of Or- 
leans, her sister-in-law. The weather was mild and 
clear. The twelve legions of the National Guard on 
foot, the mounted National Guard, the military 
household of the King, and all the regiments of the 
royal guard, which the sovereign was about to re- 
view, made a magnificent appearance. An immense 
multitude covered the slopes about the Champ-de- 
Mars. Charles X. harvested the effect of the liberal 
measure that he had first adopted. A thunder of 
plaudits and cheers greeted his arrival on the ground. 
At one moment, when he found himself, so to speak, 
tangled in the midst of the crowd, several lancers of 



16 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

his guard sought to break the circle formed about 
him by pushing back the curious with the handles 
of their lances. " My friends, no halberds ! " the 
King called to them. This happy phrase, repeated 
from group to group, carried the general satisfaction 
to a climax. A witness of this military ceremony, 
the Count of Puymaigre, at that time Prefect of the 
Oise, says in his curious Souvenirs : — 

"Charles X. appeared to have dissipated all the 
dangers that for ten years had menaced his august 
predecessor. 

" On all sides there rose only acclamations of de- 
light in favor of the new King, who showed himself 
so popular, and whose gracious countenance could 
express only benevolent intentions. I was present, 
mingling with the crowd, at the first review by 
Charles X. on the Champ-de-Mars, and the remarks 
were so frankly royalist, that any one would have 
been roughly treated by the crowd had he shown 
other sentiments." 

The Duchess of Berry was full of joy. She quiv- 
ered with pleasure. Very popular in the army and 
among the people, as at court and in the city, she 
was proud to show her fine child, who already wore 
the uniform, to the officers and soldiers. She ap- 
peared to all eyes the symbol of maternal love, and 
the mothers gazed upon her boy as if he had been 
their own. As soon as the little Prince was seen, 
there was on every face an expression of kindliness 
and sympathy. He was the Child of Paris, the Child 



THE JENTBY INTO PABIS 17 

of France. Who could have foretold then that this 
child, so loved, admired, applauded, would, inno- 
cent victim, less than six years later, be condemned 
to perpetual exile, and by whom ? 

Charles X. had won a triumph. Napoleon, at the 
time of his greatest glories, at the apogee of his pro- 
digious fortunes, had never had a warmer greeting 
from the Parisian people. In the course of the re- 
view the King spoke to all the colonels. On his 
return to the Tuileries he went at a slow pace, 
paused often to receive petitions, handed them to 
one of his suite, and responded in the most gracious 
manner to the homage of which he was the object. 
An historian not to be accused of partiality for the 
Restoration has written : " On entering the Tuile- 
ries, Charles X. might well believe that the favor 
that greeted his reign effaced the popularity of all 
the sovereigns who had gone before. Happy in 
being King at last, moved by the acclamations that 
he met at every step, the new monarch let his intox- 
icating joy expand in all his words. His affability 
was remarked in his walks through Paris, and the 
grace with which he received all petitioners who 
could approach him." Everywhere that he appeared, 
at the HOtel-Dieu, at Sainte-Genvi^ve, at the Made- 
leine, the crowd pressed around him and manifested 
the sincerest enthusiasm. M. Villemain, in the 
opening discourse of his lectures on eloquence at 
the Faculty of Letters, was wildly applauded when 
he pronounced the following eulogium on the new 



18 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

sovereign: "A monarcla kindly and revered, he has 
the loyalty of the antique ways and modern enlight- 
enment. Religion is the seal of his word. He in- 
herits from Henry IV. those graces of the heart that 
are irresistible. He has received from Louis XIV. 
an intelligent love of the arts, a nobility of language, 
and that dignity that imposes respect while it 
seduces." All the journals chanted his praises. 
Seeing that the Oonstitutionnel itself, freed from cen- 
sorship, rendered distinguished homage to legiti- 
macy, he came to believe that principle invincible. 
He was called Charles the Loyal. At the Th^litre- 
FrauQais, the line of Tartufe — 

" Nous vivoiis sous un prince ennemi de la f raude " — 

was greeted with a salvo of applause. The former 
adversaries of the King reproached themselves with 
having misunderstood him. They sincerely re- 
proached themselves for their past criticisms, and 
adored that which they had burned. M. de Vaula- 
belle himself wrote : — 

"Few sovereigns have taken possession of the 
throne in circumstances more favorable than those 
surrounding the accession of Charles X." 

It seemed as if the great problem of the concilia- 
tion of order and liberty had been definitely solved. 
The white flag, rejuvenated by the Spanish war, had 
taken on all its former splendor. The best officers, 
the best soldiers of the imperial guard, served the 
King in the royal guard with a devotion proof 



th:e enthy into pahis 19 

against everything. Secret societies had ceased their 
subterranean manoeuvres. No more disturbances, no 
more plots. In the Chambers, the Opposition, re- 
duced to an insignificant minority, was discouraged 
or converted. The ambitious spirits of whom it was 
composed turned their thoughts toward the rising 
sun. Peace had happily fecundated the prodigious 
resources of the country. Finances, commerce, ag- 
riculture, industry, the fine arts, everything was 
prospering. The public revenues steadily increased. 
The ease with which riches came inclined all minds 
toward optimism. The salons had resumed the most 
exquisite traditions of courtesy and elegance. It 
was the boast that every good side of the ancien 
regime had been preserved and every bad one rejected. 
France was not only respected, she was d la mode. 
All Europe regarded her with sympathetic admira- 
tion. No one in 1824 could have predicted 1830. 
The writers least favorable to the Restoration had 
borne witness to the general calm, the prevalence of 
good will, the perfect accord between the country 
and the crown. The early days of the reign of 
Charles X. were, so to speak, the honeymoon of the 
union of the King and France. 



Ill 

THE TOMBS OF SAINT-DENIS 

THE funeral solemnities of Louis XVIII. seemed 
to the people a mortuary triumph of Royalty 
over the Revolution and the Empire. The profana- 
tions of 1793 were expiated. Napoleon was left with 
the willow of Saint Helena; the descendant of Saint 
Louis and of Louis XIV. had the basilica of his an- 
cestors as a place of sepulture, and the links of time's 
chain were again joined. The obsequies of Louis 
XVIII. suggested a multitude of reflections. It was 
the first time since the death of Louis XV. in 1774, 
that such a ceremony had taken place. As was said 
by the Moniteur : — 

" This solemnity, absolutely novel for the greater 
number of the present generation, offered an aspect at 
once mournful and imposing. A monarch so justly 
regretted, a king so truly Christian, coming to take 
his place among the glorious remains of the martyrs 
of his race and the bones of his ancestors, — profaned, 
scattered by the revolutionary tempest, but which he 
had been able again to gather, — was a grave subject 
of reflection, a spectacle touching in its purpose and 
majestic in the pomp with which it was surrounded." 
20 ' 



THE TOMBS OF SAINT-DENIS 21 

Through what vicissitudes had passed these royal 
tombs, to which the coffin of Louis XVIII. was 
borne! Read in the work of M. Georges d'Heylli, 
Les Tomhes royales de Saint-Denis^ the story of these 
profanations and restorations. 

The Moniteur of the 6th of February, 1793, pub- 
lished in its literary miscellany, a so-called patriotic 
ode, by the poet Lebrun, containing the following 
strophe : — 

" Purgeons le sol des patriotes, 
Par des rois encore infectes. 
La terre de la liberie 
Rejette les os des despotes. 
De ces monstres divinises 
Que tons les cercueils soient brisesi 
Que leur inemoire soit fletrie 1 
Et qu'avec leurs manes errants 
Sortent du sein de la patrie 
Les cadavres de ses tyrants ! " ^ 

These verses were the prelude to the discussion, 
some months later, in the National Convention, of 
the proposition to destroy the monuments of the 
Kings at Saint-Denis, to burn their remains, and to 
send to the bullet foundry the bronze and lead off 
their tombs and coffins. In the session of July 31, 
1793, Barrdre, the "Anacreon of the guillotine," 

1 Let us purge the patriot soil — By kings still infected. — The 
land of liberty — Rejects the bones of despots. — Of these monsters 
deified — Let all the coffins be destroyed ! — Let their memory 
perish ! — And with their wandering manes — Let issue from the 
bosom of the fatherland — The bodies of its tyrants ! 



22 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

read to the convention in the name of the Commit- 
tee of Public Safety, a report, which said : — 

" To celebrate the day of August 10, which over- 
threw the throne, the pompous mausoleums must be 
destroyed upon its anniversary. Under the Mon- 
archy, the very tombs were taught to flatter kings. 
Royal pride and luxury could not be moderated even 
on this theatre of death, and the bearers of the sceptre 
who had brought such ills on France and on human- 
ity seemed even in the grave to vaunt a vanished 
splendor. The strong hand of the Republic should 
pitilessly efface these haughty epitaphs, and demolish 
these mausoleums which might recall the frightful 
memory of kings." 

The project was voted by acclamation. The tombs 
were demolished between the 6th and 8th of August, 
1793, and the announcement was made for the anni- 
versary of the 10th of August, 1792, of " that grand, 
just, and retributive destruction, required in order 
that the coffins should be opened, and the remains of 
the tyrants be thrown into a ditch filled with quick- 
lime, where they may be forever destroyed. This 
operation will shortly take place." 

This was done in the following October. For some 
days there was carried on a profanation even more 
sacrilegious than the demolition of the tombs. The 
coffins containing the remains of kings and queens, 
princes and princesses, were violated. On Wednes- 
day, the 16th of October, 1793, at the very hour that 
Marie Antoinette mounted the scaffold, — she who 



TBE TOMBS OF SAINT-DFNIS 23 

had so wept for her son, the first Dauphin, who died 
the 4th of June, 1789, at the beginning of the Revo- 
lution, — the disinterrers of kings violated the grave 
of this child and threw his bones on the refuse heap. 
Iconoclasts, jealous of death, disputed its prey, and 
they profaned among others the sepulchres of Ma- 
dame Henrietta of England, of the Princess Palatine, 
of the Regent, and of Louis XV. 

In the midst of these devastations, some men, less 
insensate than the others, sought at least to rescue 
from the hands of the destroyers what might be pre- 
served in the interest of art. Of this number was an 
artist, Alexandre Lenoir, who had supervised the 
demolition of the tombs of Saint-Denis. He could 
not keep from the foundry, by the terms of the decree, 
the tombs of lead, copper, and bronze ; but he saved 
the others from complete destruction — those that 
may be seen to-day in the church of Saint-Denis. 
He had them placed first in the cemetery of the 
Valois, near the ditches filled with quicklime, 
where had been cast the remains of the great ones of 
the earth, robbed of their sepulchres. Later, a decree 
of the Minister of the Interior, Benezech, dated 19 
Germinal, An IV., authorizing the citizen Lenoir to 
have the tombs thus saved from destruction taken to 
the Museum of French Monuments, of which he was 
the conservator, and which had been installed at 
Paris, Rue des Petits Augustins. From thence they 
were destined to be returned to the Church of Saint- 
Denis, under the reign of Louis XVIII. 



24 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

At the height of his power, Napoleon dreamed of 
providing for himself the same sepulture as that of 
the kings, his predecessors. He had decided that he 
would be interred in the Church of Saint-Denis, and 
had arranged for himself a cortege of emperors about 
the site that he had chosen for the vault of his 
dynasty. He directed the construction of a grand 
monument dedicated to Charlemagne, which was to 
rise in the " imperialized " church. The great Carlo- 
vingian emperor was to have been represented, erect, 
upon a column of marble, at the back of which statues 
in stone of the emperors who succeeded him were to 
have been placed. But at the time of Napoleon's 
fall, the monument had not been finished. There 
had been completed only the statues, which have 
taken their rank in the crypt. They represent Char- 
lemagne, Louis le Ddbonnaire, Charles le Chauve, 
Louis le Begue, Charles le Gros, and even Louis 
d'Outremer, who, nevertheless, was only a king. 

Like the Pharaohs of whom Bossuet speaks. Napo- 
leon was not to enjoy his sepulture. To be interred 
with pomp at Saint-Denis, while Napoleon, at Saint 
Helena, rested under a simple stone on which not 
even his name was inscribed, was the last triumph 
for Louis XVIII. , — a triumph in death. The re-en- 
trance of Louis XVIII. had been not only the res- 
toration of the throne, but that of the tombs. The 
21st of January, 1815, twenty-two years, to the very 
day, after the death of Louis XVI., the remains of 
the unhappy King and those of his Queeai, Marie 



THE TOMBS OF SAINT-DENIS 25 

Antoinette, were transferred to the Church of Saint- 
Denis, where their solemn obsequies were celebrated. 
Chateaubriand cried : — 

"What hand has reconstructed the roof of these 
vaults and prepared these empty tombs ? The hand 
of him who was seated on the throne of the Bour- 
bons. O Providence! He believed that he was 
preparing the sepulchres of his race, and he was but 
building the tomb of Louis XYI. Injustice reigns 
but for a moment ; it is virtue only that can count its 
ancestors and leave a posterity. See, at the same 
moment, the master of the earth falls, Louis XVIII. 
regains the sceptre, Louis XYI. finds again the 
sepulture of his fathers." 

At the beginning of the Second Restoration, the 
King determined, by a decree of the 4th of April, 
1816, that search should be made in the cemetery of 
the Valois, about the Church of Saint-Denis, in order 
to recover the remains of his ancestors that might 
have escaped the action of the bed of quicklime, in 
which they had been buried under the Terror. The 
same decree declared that the remains recovered 
should be solemnly replaced in the Church of Saint- 
Denis. 

Excavations were made in January, 1817, in the 
cemetery of the Valois, and the bones thus discovered 
were transferred to the necropolis of the kings. 

"It was night," says Alexandre Lenoir, in his 
Histoire des Arts en France par les Monuments. " The 
moon shone on the towers ; the torches borne by 



26 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



the attendants were reflected from the walls of the 
edifice. What a spectacle! The remains of kings 
and queens, princes and princesses, of the most 
ancient of monarchies, sought with pious care, with 
sacred respect, in the ditches dug by impious arms 
in the evil days. The bones of the Yalois and the 
Bourbons found pele-mele outside the walls of the 
church, and brought again, after a long exile, to their 
ancient burial place." 

In a little vault on the left were deposited the 
coffins containing the bones of earlier date than the 
Bourbons, and a marble tablet was placed upon it, 
with the inscription : " Here rest the mortal remains 
of eighteen kings, from Dagobert to Henry III. ; ten 
queens, from Nantilde, wife of Dagobert, to Mar- 
guerite de Valois, first wife of Henry IV. ; twenty- 
four dauphins, princes, and princesses, children and 
grandchildren of France; eleven divers personages 
(Hugues-le-grand, four abbes of Saint-Denis, three 
chamberlains, two constables, and Sedille de Sainte- 
Croix, wife of the Counsellor Jean Pastourelle). 
Torn from their violated sepulchres the 17, 18, 19, 
20, 21, 22, 23, 24 October, 1793, and 18 January, 
1794; restored to their tombs the 19 January, 1817." 

On the right were placed the coffins enclosing the 
remains of the princes and princesses of the house 
of Bourbon, the list of which is given by a second 
marble plaque: "Here rest the mortal remains of 
seven kings, from Charles V. to Louis XY. ; seven 
queens, from Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V., 



THE TOMBS OF SAINT-DENIS 27 

to Marie Leczinska, wife of Louis XV. ; dauphins 
and dauphinesses, princes and princesses, children 
and grandchildren of France, to the number of forty- 
seven, from the second son of Henry IV. to the Dau- 
phin, eldest son of Louis XVI. Torn from their 
violated sepulchres the 12, 14, 15, and 16 October, 
1793; restored to their tombs the 19 January, 1817." 

Besides these vaults, there is one that bears the 
title of the "Royal Vault of the Bourbons," though 
but a small number of princes and princesses of this 
family are there deposited. There is where Louis 
XVIII. was to rest. In 1815, there had been placed 
in this vault the coffins of Louis XVI. and of Marie 
Antoinette, recovered on the site of the former ceme- 
tery of the Madeleine. On the coffin of the King 
was carved: "Here is the body of the very high, 
very puissant, and very excellent Prince, Louis, 16th 
of the name, by the grace of God King of France and 
Navarre." A like inscription on the coffin of the 
Queen recited her titles. 

In 1817, there had been put by the side of these 
two coffins those of Madame Adelaide and of Madame 
Victorine, daughter of Louis XV., who died at 
Trieste, one in 1799, the other in 1800, and whose 
remains had just been brought from that city to Saint- 
Denis. There had also been placed in the same vault 
a coffin containing the body of Louis VII. — a king 
coming now for the first time, as Alexandre Lenoir 
remarks, to take a place in the vault of these van- 
ished princes, whose ranks are no longer crowded, 



28 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

and which crime has been more prompt to scatter 
than has Death been to fill them; also the coffin of 
Louise de Vaudemont, wife of Henry III., the queen 
who was buried in the Church of the Capucins, Place 
Vend5me, and whose remains escaped profanation in 
1793. In this same vault were also two little coffins, 
those of a daughter and a son of the Duke and Duch- 
ess of Berry, who died, one in 1817, the other in 1818, 
immediately after birth, and the coffin of their father, 
assassinated the 13th of February, 1820, on leaving 
the Opera. Such were the companions in burial of 
Louis XVIII. 



IV 

THE FUNERAL OF LOUIS XVIH 

OUIS XVIII. died the 16tli of September, 1824, 
J at the Chateau of the Tuileries. His body 



remained there until the 23d of September, when, 
to the sound of a salvo of one hundred and one guns, 
it was borne to the Church of Saint-Denis. The 
coffin remained exposed in this basilica within a 
chapelle ardente, to the 24th of October, the eve of 
the day fixed for the obsequies, and during all this 
time the church was filled with a crowd of the faith- 
ful, belonging to all classes of society, who gathered 
from Paris and all the surrounding communes, to 
render a last homage to the old King. Sunday, 24th 
of October, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the body 
was transferred from the chapelle ardente to the cata- 
falque prepared to receive it. Then the vespers and 
the vigils of the dead were sung, and the Grand 
Almoner, clad in his pontifical robes, officiated. 
The next day, Monday, the 25th of October, the ser- 
vices of burial took place. 

The Dauphin and Dauphiness left the Tuileries at 
10.30 A.M., to be present at the funeral ceremony. 
In conformity with etiquette, Charles X. was not 

29 



30 THE BUCHES8 OF BEBRT 

present. He remained at tlie Tuileries with the 
Duchess of Berry, with whom he heard a requiem 
Mass in the chapel of the Chateau at eleven o'clock. 
The Duchess was thus spared a painful spectacle. 
With what emotion would she not have seen opened 
the crypt in which she believed she would herself be 
laid, and which was the burial place of her assassi- 
nated husband and of her two children, dead so soon 
after their birth. 

The ceremony commences in the antique necrop- 
olis. The interior of the church is hung all with 
black to the spring of the arches, where fleurs-de-lis 
in gold are relieved against the funeral hangings. 
The light of day, wholly shut out, is replaced by 
an immense quantity of lamps, tapers, and candles, 
suspended from a multitude of candelabra and chan- 
deliers. At the back of the choir shines a great 
luminous cross. The Dauphiness, the Duchess of 
Orleans, the princes and princesses, her children, 
her sister-in-law, are led to the gallery of the Dau- 
phiness. The church is filled with the crowd of 
constituted authorities. At the entrance to the nave 
is seen a deputation of men and women from the 
markets, and others who, according to the Moniteur, 
have won the favor of admission to this sad cere- 
mony by the grief they manifested at the time of the 
King'-s death. The Dauphin advances, his man- 
tle borne from the threshold of the church to the 
choir by the Duke of Blacas, the Duke of Damas, 
and the Count Melchior de Polignac. The Duke of 



THE FUNERAL OF LOUIS XVIII 31 

Orleans comes next. Three of his officers bear his 
mantle. 

A salvo of artillery, responded to by a discharge 
of musketry, announces the commencement of the 
ceremony. The Grand Almoner of France says 
Mass. After the Gospel Mgr. de Frayssinous, 
Bishop of Hermopolis, ascends the pulpit and. pro- 
nounces the funeral oration of the King. At the 
close of the discourse another salvo of artillery and 
another discharge of musketry are heard. The musi- 
cians of the Chapel of the King, under the direction 
of M. Plantade, render the Mass of Cherubini. At 
the Sanctus, twelve pages of the King, guided by 
their governor, come from the sacristy, whence they 
have taken their torches, salute the altar, then the 
catafalque, place themselves kneeling on the first 
steps of the sanctuary, and remain there until after 
the Communion. The De Profundis and the Libera 
are sung. After the absolutions, twelve body-guards 
advance to the catafalque, which recalls by its form 
the mausoleums raised to Francis I. and to Henry 
II. by the architects of the sixteenth century. It 
occupies the centre of the nave. The cords of the 
pall are borne by the Chancellor Dambray in the 
name of the Chamber of Peers, by M. Ravez in the 
name of the Chamber of Deputies, by the Count de 
S^ze in the name of the magistracy, by Marshal Mon- 
cey, Duke of Conegliano, in the name of the army. 
The twelve body-guards raise the coffin from the cat- 
afalque, and bear it into the royal tomb. Then the 



32 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 



King-at-Arms goes alone into the vault, lays aside 
his rod, his cap, and his coat-of-arnis, which he also 
casts in, retires a step, and cries : " Heralds-at-Arms, 
perform your duties." 

The Heralds-at-Arms, marching in succession, cast 
their rods, caps, coats -of -arms, into the tomb, then 
withdraw, except two, of whom one descends into 
the vault to place the regalia on the coffin, and the 
other is stationed on the first steps to receive the 
regalia and pass them to the one who stands on 
the steps. 

The King-at-Arms begins announcing the regalia. 
He says : " Marshal, Duke of Eagusa, major-general 
of the Royal Guard, bring the flag of the Royal 
Guard." The marshal rises from his place, takes 
the flag from the hands of the officer bearing it, ad- 
vances, salutes first the DaujDhin, then the Duke of 
Orleans, approaches the vault, makes a profound bow, 
and places the flag in the hands of the Herald-at- 
Arms, standing on the steps. He passes it to the 
second, who places it on the coffin. The marshal 
salutes the altar and the princes and resumes his 
place. 

The King-at-Arms continues the calls. "Mon- 
sieur the Duke of Mortemart, captain-colonel of the 
regular foot-guards of the King, bring the ensign of 
the company which you have in keeping." He sum- 
mons in the same manner the Duke of Luxembourg, 
the Duke of Mouchy, the Duke of Gramont, the 
Duke d' Havre, who bring each the standard of the 



THE FUNEBAL OF LOUIS XVIII 83 

company of the body-guards of which they are the four 
captains. The call of the other regalia goes on in 
the following order ; — 

" Monsieur the Count of Peyrelongue, Equerry in 
Ordinary of His Majesty, bring the spurs of the 
King. 

"Monsieur the Marquis of Fresne, Equerry in 
Ordinary of His Majesty, bring the gauntlets of the 
King. 

" Monsieur the Chevalier de Riviere, Master of the 
Horse of His Majesty, bring the coat-of-arms of the 
King. 

" Monsieur the Marquis of Vernon, charged with 
the functions of First Equerry, bring the helmet of 
the King. 

"Monsieur the Duke of Polignac, charged with 
the functions of Grand Equerry of France, bring the 
royal sword. (The lojsd sword is presented before 
the vault only by the point, and is not carried 
down.) 

" Monsieur the Prince de Talleyrand, Grand Cham- 
berlain of France, bring the banner." 

There is seen approaching, the banner in his hand, 
an old man, slight, lame, clad in satin and covered 
with embroidery, in gold and jewelled decorations. 
It is the unfrocked priest who said the Mass of -the 
Champ-de-Mars, for the FSte de la FS deration ; it is 
the diplomat who directed the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs at the time of the murder of the Duke d'En- 
ghien; it is the courtier, who, before he was Grand 



34 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Chamberlain of Louis XVIII. and Charles X., was 
that of Napoleon. The banner is presented before 
the vault only by one end. It is inclined over the 
opening of the crypt, but is not cast in, salutes, for 
the last time, the dead King, then rises as if to pro- 
claim that the noble banner of France dies not, and 
that the royalty sheltered beneath its folds descends 
not into the tomb. 

The King-at-Arms again cries : — 

"Monsieur the Duke d'Uzes, charged with the 
functions of Grand Master of France, come and per- 
form your duty." Then the maitres de I'hStel, the 
chambellans de l'h6tel, and the first maitre de I'hOtel 
approach the vault, break their batons, cast them in, 
and return to their places. 

The King-at-Arms summons the persons bearing 
the insignia of royalty. 

" Monsieur the Duke of Bressac, bring la main de 
justice. 

"Monsieur the Duke of Chevreuse, bring the 
sceptre. 

"Monsieur the Duke of la Tremoille, bring the 
crown." 

These three insignia are taken down into the vault, 
as were the flag and the four standards. 

Then the Duke d'Uz^s, putting the end of the 
baton of Grand Master of France within the vault, 
cries out: "The King is dead! " 

The King-at-Arms withdrav\^s three paces, and 
repeats in a low voice: "The King is dead! the 



THE FUNERAL OF LOUIS XVIII 35 

King is dead! the King is dead! " Then turning to 
the assembly he says: "Pray for the repose of his 
soul!" 

At this moment the clergy and all the assistants 
throw themselves upon their knees, pray, and rise 
again. The Duke d'Uz^s withdraws his Mton from 
the vault, and brandishing it, calls out : " Long live 
the King!" 

The King-at- Arms repeats : " Long live the King ! 
long live the King! long live the King! Charles, 
tenth of the name, by the grace of God, King of 
France and Navarre, very Christian, very august, 
very puissant, our very honored lord and good 
master, to whom God grant long and happy life! 
Cry ye all: Long live the King!" Then the trum- 
pets, drums, fifes, and instruments of the military 
bands break into a load fanfare, and their sound is 
mingled with the prolonged acclamations of the as- 
sembly, whose cries " Long live the King ! long live 
Charles X. ! " contrast with the silence of the tombs. 

"To this outburst of the public hopes," says the 
Moniteur, " succeeded the return of pious and mourn- 
ful duties ; the tomb is closed over the mortal remains 
of the monarch whose subjects, restored to happi- 
ness, greeted him on his return from the land of exile 
with the name of Louis le Desir^, and who twice 
reconciled his people with Europe. This imposing 
ceremony being ended, the princes were again es- 
corted into the Abbey to their apartments, by the 
Grand Master, the Master of Ceremonies and his 



86 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

aides, preceded by the Master-at-Arms, and the Her- 
alds -at- Arms, who had resumed their caps, coats-of- 
arms, and rods. Then the crov/d slowly dispersed. 
We shall not try to express the sentiments to which 
this imposing and mournful ceremony must give rise. 
With the regrets and sorrow caused by the death of 
a prince so justly wejjt, mingle the hopes inspired by 
a King already the master of all hearts. This funeral 
ceremony when, immediately after the burial of a 
monarch whom God had called to Himself, v/ere 
heard cries of ' Long live Charles X. , ' — the new 
King greeted at the tomb of his august predecessor, 
— this inauguration, amid the pomps of death, must 
have left impressions not to be rendered, and beyond 
the power of imagination to represent." 

Reader, if this recital has interested you, go visit 
the Church of Saint-Denis. There is not, perhaps, 
in all the world, a spectacle more impressive than 
the sight of the ancient necropolis of kings. Enter 
the basilica, admirably restored under the Second 
Empire. By the mystic light of the windows, faith- 
ful reproductions of those of former centuries, — the 
funerals of so many kings, the profanations of 1793, 
the restoration of the tombs, — all this invades your 
thought and inspires you with a dim religious im- 
pression of devotion. These stones have their lan- 
guage. Lafides clamahunt. They speak amid the 
sepulchral silence. Listen to the echo of a far-away 
voice. There, under these arches, centuries old, the 
21st of August, 1670, Bossuet pronounced the funeral 



THE FUNERAL OF LOUIS XVIII 37 

oration of Madame Henriette of England. He 
said : — 

"With whatever haughty distinction men may 
flatter themselves, they all have the same origin, and 
this origin insignificant. Their years follow each 
other like waves ; they flow unceasingl}^, and though 
the sound of some is slightly greater and their course 
a trifle longer than those of others, they are together 
confounded in an abyss where are known neither 
princes nor kings nor the proud distinctions of men, 
as the most boasted rivers mingle in the ocean, name- 
less and inglorious with the least known streams." 

Is not the Church of Saint-Denis itself a funeral 
discourse in stone more grandiose and eloquent than 
that of the reverend orator ? Regard on either side 
of the nave these superb mausoleams, these pompous 
tombs that are but an empty show, and since their 
dead dwell not in them, contemplate these columns 
that seem to wish to bear to heaven the splendid tes- 
timony of our nothingness ! There, at the right of 
the main altar, descend the steps that lead to the 
crypt. There muse on all the kings, the queens, the 
princes, and princesses, whose bones have been re- 
placed at hazard within these vaults, after their 
bodies had been, in 1793, cast into a common ditch 
in the cemetery of the Valois to be consumed by 
quicklime. The great ones of the earth, dispos- 
sessed of their sepulchres, could they not say, in the 
region of shades, in the mournful words of the Ser- 
monnaire : — 



38 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

" Death does not leave us body enough to require 
room, and it is only the tombs that claim the sight; 
our body takes another name; even that of corpse, 
since it implies something of the human form, re- 
mains to it but a little time ; it becomes a something 
nameless in any tongue, so truly does everything die 
in it, even the funeral terms by which its unhappy 
remains are designated. Thus the Power divine, 
justly angered by our pride, reduces it to nothing- 
ness, and, to level all conditions forever, makes com- 
mon ashes of us all." 

The remains of so many sovereigns and princes are 
no longer even corpses. The corpses have perished 
as ruins perish. You may no longer see the coffins 
of the predecessors of Louis XVI. But those of the 
Martyr-King, of the Queen Marie Antoinette, of the 
Duke of Berry, of Louis XVIIL, are there before you 
in the crypt. Pause. Here is the royal vault of the 
Bourbons. Your glance can enter only a narrow 
grated window, through which a little twilight 
filters. If a lamp were not lighted at the back, the 
eye would distinguish nothing. By the doubtful 
gleam of this sepulchral lamp, you succeed in mak- 
ing out in the gloom the coffins placed on trestles of 
iron; to the left that of the Duke of Berry, then the 
two little coffins of his children, dead at birth; then 
in two rows those of Mesdames Adelaide and Vie- 
to ire, daughters of Louis XV., those of Louis XVI. 
and Marie Antoinette, those of the two last Princes 
of Cond^, died in 1818 and in 1830, and on the right, 



THE FUNEBAL OF LOUIS XVIII 39 

at the very extremity of tlie vault, that of the only 
sovereign who, for the period of a century, died upon 
the throne, Louis XVIII, 

The royal vault of the Bourbons was diminished 
more than half to make room for the imperial vault 
constructed under Napoleon III. The former en- 
trance, on the steps of which stand the Heralds- at- 
Arms at the obsequies of the kings, has been 
suppressed. The coffin of Louis XVIII. was not 
placed on the iron trestles, where it rests to-day, at 
the time of his funeral. It was put at the threshold 
of the vault, where it was to have been replaced by 
that of Charles X. ; for by the ancient tradition, when 
a king of France dies, as his successor takes his 
place on the throne, so he, in death, displaces his 
predecessor. But Louis XVIII. waited in vain for 
Charles X. in the royal vault of the Bourbons; the 
last brother of Louis XVI. reposes in the chapel of 
the Franciscans at Goritz. 

Charles X. is not alone in being deprived of his 
rights in his tomb ; the Duke and Duchess of Angou- 
leme and the Count of Chambord were so, and also 
Napoleon III. The second Emperor and Prince 
Imperial, his son, sleep their sleep in England ; for 
the Bonapartes, like the Bourbons, have been exiled 
from Saint-Denis. By a decree of the 18th of Novem- 
ber, 1858, the man who had re-established the Empire 
decided that the imperial dynasty should have its 
sepulture in the ancient necropolis of the kings. 
Napoleon III. no more realized his dream than 



40 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

Napoleon I. He had completed under his reign the 
magnificent vault destined for himself and his race. 
But once more was accomplished the Sic vos non vobis, 
and no imperial corpse has ever taken its place in the 
still empty Napoleonic vault. The opening situated 
in the church, near the centre of the nave, is at pres- 
ent closed by enormous flagstones framed in copper 
bands ; and as there is no inscription on these, many 
people whose feet tread them in visiting the church 
do not suspect that they have beneath them the stair- 
way of six steps leading down to the vault that was 
to be the burial place of emperors. " Oh, vanity! Oh, 
nothingness! Oh, mortals ignorant of their desti- 
nies ! " It is not enough that contending dynasties 
dispute each other's crowns ; their covetousness and 
rivalry must extend to their tombs. Not enough that 
sovereigns have been exiled from their country; they 
must be exiled from their graves. Disappointments 
in life and in death. This is the last word of divine 
anger, the last of the lessons of Providence. 



THE KING 

BORN at Versailles, the 9th of October, 1757, 
Charles X., King of France and Navarre, was 
entering his sixty-eighth year at the time of his ac- 
cession to the throne. According to the portrait 
traced by Lamartine, " he had kept beneath the first 
frosts of age the freshness, the stature, the supple- 
ness, and beauty of youth." His health was excel- 
lent, and but for the color of his hair — almost white 
— he would hardly have been given more than fifty 
years. As alert as his predecessor was immobile, an 
untiring hunter, a bold rider, sitting his horse with 
the grace of a young man, a kindly talker, an affable 
sovereign, this survivor of the court of Versailles, 
this familiar of the Petit- Trianon, this friend of 
Marie Antoinette, of the Princess of Lamballe, of 
the Duchess of Polignac, of the Duke of Lauzun, 
of the Prince de Ligne, preserved, despite his de- 
votedness, a great social prestige. He perpetuated 
the traditions of the elegance of the old regime. 
Having lived much in the society of women, his 
politeness toward them was exquisite. This former 
voluptuary preserved only the good side of gallantry. 

41 



42 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

The Count d'Haussonville writes in his book enti- 
tled Ma Jeunesse : — 

" I have often seen Charles X. on horseback re- 
viewing troops or following the chase ; I have heard 
him, seated on his throne, and surrounded with all 
the pomp of an official cortege, pronounce the open- 
ing discourse of the session; I have many times been 
near him at the little select fetes that the Duchess 
of Berry used to give, of a morning, in the Pavilion 
de Marsan, to amuse the Children of France, as 
they were then called, and to extend their acquain- 
tance with the young people of their own age. One 
day when I was visiting Avith my parents some 
exposition of objects of art or flowers in one of 
the lower halls of the Louvre, I saw him approach 
my mother — whom he had known in England — 
with a familiarity at once respectful and charm- 
ing. He plainly wished to please those whom he 
addressed, and he had the gift of doing so. In that 
kind of success he was rarely wanting, especially with 
women. His physiognomy as well as his manner 
helped. It was open and benevolent, always ani- 
mated by an easy, perhaps a slightly commonplace 
smile, that of a man conscious that he was irresisti- 
ble, and that he could, with a few amiable words, 
overcome all obstacles." 

The fiercest adversaries of Charles X. never denied 
the attraction emanating from his whole personality, 
the chief secret of which was kindliness. In his 
constaut desire to charm every one that approached 




CHARLES X. 



THE KING 43 



him, he had a certain something like feminine 
coquetry. The Count of Puymaigre, who, being the 
Prefect of the Oise, saw him often at the Chateau of 
Compiegne, says: — 

"If the imposing tone of Louis XVIII. intimi- 
dated, it was not so with Charles X. ; there was 
rather danger of forgetting, pacing the room with 
him, that one was talking with a king." 

Yet, whatever may be asserted, the new monarch 
never dreamed of restoring the old regime. We 
do not believe that for a single instant he had the 
insensate idea of putting things back to where they 
were before 1789. His favorite minister, M. de 
Vill^le, was not one of the great nobles, and the men 
who were to take the chief parts in the consecration 
were of plebeian origin. The impartial historian of 
the Restoration, M. de Viel-Castel, remarked it: — 

" Charles X. by this fact alone, that for three years 
he had actively shared in affairs and saw the diffi- 
culty of them better, by the fact that he was no longer 
exasperated by the heat of the struggle and by impa- 
tience at the political nullity to which events had so 
long condemned him, had laid aside a part of his 
former exaggeration. In the lively satisfaction he 
felt in entering at last, at the age of sixty-seven, upon 
the enjoyment of the supreme power by the perspec- 
tive of which his imagination had been so long 
haunted, he was disposed to neglect nothing to cap- 
ture public favor, and thus gain the chance to realize 
the dreams of his life. His kindliness and natural 



44 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

courtesy would liave inspired these tactics, even if 
policy had not suggested them." 

The dignity of the private life of the King added 
to the respect inspired by his personality. His 
morals were absolutely irreproachable. His wife, 
Marie Ther^se of Savoy, died the 2d of June, 1805; 
he never remarried, and his conduct had been wholly 
edifying. The sacrifice he made to God, in renounc- 
ing the love of women, after he lost his well-beloved 
Countess of Polastron by death in 1803, was the more 
meritorious, because, apart from the prestige of his 
birth and rank, he remained attractive longer than 
men of his age. No such scandals as had dishon- 
ored the court of nearly all his predecessors occurred 
in his, and the most malevolent could not charge him 
with having a favorite. In his home he was a man 
as respectable as he was attractive, a tender father, a 
grandfather even more tender, an affectionate uncle, 
a gentle, indulgent master for his servants. None 
of the divisions that existed in the family of Louis 
XVIII. appeared in that of his successor; perfect 
harmony reigned in the court of the Tuileries. 

Of a mind more superficial than profound, Charles 
X. did not lack either in tact or in intelligence. 
He sincerely desired to do right, and his errors were 
made in good faith, in obedience to the mandates of 
his conscience. Lamartine, who had occasion to see 
him near at hand, thus sums up his character : — 

" A man of heart, and impulsive, all his qualities 
were gifts of nature ; hardly any were the fruit ac- 



THE KING 45 



quired by labor and meditation. He had the spirit 
of the French race, superficial, rapid, spontaneous, 
and happy in the hazard of repartee, the smile kindly 
and communicative, the glance open, the hand out- 
stretched, the attitude cordial, an ardent thirst for 
popularity, great confidence in his relations with 
others, a constancy in friendship rare upon the 
throne, true modesty, a restless seeking for good 
advice, a conscience severe for himself and indulgent 
for others, a piety without pettiness, a noble repent- 
ance for the sole weaknesses of his life, his youthful 
amours, a rational and sincere love for his people, an 
honest and religious desire to make France happy and 
to render his reign fruitful in the moral improvement 
and the national grandeur of the country confided to 
him by Providence. All these loyal dispositions 
were written on his physiognomy. A lively frank- 
ness, majesty, kindness, honesty, candor, all revealed 
therein a naan born to love and to be loved. Depth 
and solidity alone were wanting in this visage; look- 
ing at it, you were drawn to the man, you felt doubts 
of the King." 

This remark, just enough at thq end of Charles 
X.'s reign, was hardly so at the outset. In 1824 
people had no doubts of the man or of the King. The 
French were content with Charles X., and Charles 
X, was content with himself. 

The new King said to himself that his policy was 
the right one, because, from the moment of his acces- 
sion, all hatreds were appeased. With the absolute 



46 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

calm enjoyed by France he compared the agitations, 
plots, violence, the troubles and the fury of which 
it had been the theatre under the Decazes ministry. 
From the day the Right had assumed power, and 
Louis XVIII. had allowed his brother to engage in 
public affairs, the victory of royalty had been com- 
plete and manifest. Charles X. thought then that 
the results had sustained him ; that foresight, virtue, 
political sense, were on his side. Needless to say, 
every one about him supported him in that idea, that 
he believed in all conscience that he was in the right, 
obeying the voice of honor and acting like a king 
and a Christian. Any other policy than his own 
would have seemed to him foolish and cowardly. 
To hear his courtiers, one would have said that the 
age of gold had returned in France ; the felicitations 
offered him took an idyllic tone. The Count of 
Chabrol, Prefect of the Seine, said to him, Jan- 
uary 1, 1825, at the grand reception at the Tuile- 
ries : — 

" At your accession. Sire, a prestige of grace and 
power calmed, in the depths of all hearts, the last 
murmur of the storm, and the peace that we enjoy 
to-day is embellished by a charm that is yours 
alone." 

The same day the Drapeau Blanc said : — 

" Why is there an unusual crowd passing about the 

palace of the cherished monarch and princes ? It is 

watching with affection for a glance or smile from 

Charles ! These are the new-year gifts for the people 



TEE KING 47 



moved by love for tlie noble race of its kings. This 
glance, expressing only goodness, this smile so full 
of grace, they long for everywhere and always be- 
fore their eyes. His classic and cherished features 
are reproduced in every form; every public place has 
its bust, every hut its image ; they are the domestic 
gods of a worship that is pure and without supersti- 
tion, brought to our families by peace and happiness." 
The aurora of Charles X. 's reign was like that of 
his brother Louis XVI. The two brothers resembled 
travellers who, deceived by the early morning sun 
and the limpid purity of the sky, set forth full of joy 
and confidence, and are suddenly surprised by a 
frightful tempest. The new James II. imagined 
that his royalty had brought his trials to an end. It 
was, on the contrary, only a halt in the journey of 
misfortune and exile. He believed the Revolution 
finished, and it had but begun. 




VI 

THE DAUPHIN AKD DAUPHINESS 

T the accession of Charles X., the royal family, 
properly speaking, consisted of six persons 
only, — the King, the Dnke and Duchess of Angon- 
leme, the Duchess of Berry and her two children 
(the Duke of Bordeaux and Mademoiselle). By the 
traditions of the monarchy, the Duke of Angouleme, 
as son and heir of the King, took the title of Dau- 
phin, and his wife that of Dauphiness. The Duchess 
of Berry, who, under the reign of Louis XVIII. was 
called Madame the Duchess of Berry, was by right, 
henceforward, called simply Madame^ a privilege 
that belonged to the Duchess of Angouleme before 
she was Dauphiness. That is why the Gymnase, the 
theatre under the special protection of the Duchess 
of Berry, was called, after the new reign began, the 
Theatre de Madame. 

Born at Versailles the 5th of August, 1775, the 
Duke of Angouleme had just entered on his fiftieth 
year. A tender and respectful son, an irreproachable 
husband, a brave soldier, he was lacking in both 
brilliant and solid qualities. His awkward air, his 
bashfulness, his myopia, his manners rather bourgeois 

48 



THE DAUPHIN AND DAUPHINESS 49 

than princely, were against him. He had nothing of 
the charm and grace of his father. Bnt when one 
knew him, it was easy to see that he had unques- 
tioned virtues and real worth. To Charles X. he 
was a most faithful subject and the best of sons. In 
contrast with so many heirs apparent, who openly or 
secretly combat the political ideas of their fathers, he 
was always the humble and docile supporter of the 
throne. The Spanish expedition brought him credit. 
In it he showed courage and zeal. The army esteemed 
him, and he gave serious attention to military matters. 
A man of good sense and good faith, he held himself 
aloof from all exaggerations. At the time of the 
reaction of the White Terror, he had repudiated the 
fury of the ultras, and distinguished himself by a 
praiseworthy moderation. He had great piety, with- 
out hypocrisy, bigotry, or fanaticism. The Count of 
Puymaigre, in his curious Souvenirs^ says : — 

"The Duke of Angouleme appeared to me to be 
always subordinated to the will of the King, and he 
said to me one day very emphatically that his posi- 
tion forbade any manifestation of personal sentiment, 
because it was unbecoming in the heir apparent to 
sustain the opposition. Though very religious, he 
did not share the exaggerated ideas of what was then 
called the 'congregation,' and I recall that one day 
he asked me brusquely: 'Are you a partisan of the 
missions ? ' As I hesitated to reply, he insisted. 
'No, my lord, in nowise; I think that one good 
cur^ suffices for a commune, and that missionaries. 



50 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

by treating the public mind with an unusual fervor, 
often bring trouble with them and at the same time 
often lessen the consideration due to the resident 
priest.' " 

Married, on the 10th of June, 1799, to the daughter 
of Louis XYI. and Marie Antoinette, the Duke 
of Angouleme had no children ; but though the ster- 
ilty of his wife was an affliction, he never complained 
of it. He was not known to have either favorites or 
mistresses. The life of this descendant of Louis 
XIV. and of Louis XY. was purity itself. There 
were neither scandals nor intrigues about him. By 
nature irascible and obstinate, he had modified this 
tendency of his character by reason and still more by 
religion. Assiduous in his duties, without arro- 
gance or vanity, regarding his r61e as Prince as 
a mission given him by Providence, which he 
wished to fulfil conscientiously, he had not the 
slightest mental reservation in favor of restoring 
the old regime, and showed, perhaps, more favor 
to the lieutenants of Xapoleon than to the officers of 
the army of Conde, his companions in arms. To sum 
up, he was not an attractive prince, but he merited 
respect. The Count of Puymaigre thus concludes 
the portrait traced by him : — 

" The manner, bearing, and gestures of the Duke 
of Angouleme cannot be called gracious, especially 
in contrast with his father's manners ; doubtless it is 
not fair to ask that a prince, any more than another, 
should be favored by nature, but it is much to be 



THE DAUPHIN AND DAUPHINESS 51 

desired that he shall have an air of superiority. The 
ruling taste of the Dauphin was for the chase. He 
also read much and gave much time to the personnel 
of the army. Retiring early, he arose every morning 
at five o'clock, and lighted his own fire. Far from 
having anything to complain of in him, I could only 
congratulate myself on his kindness." 

The Dauphiness, Marie -Theresa -Charlotte of 
France, Duchess of Angouleme, born at Versailles 
the 19th of December, 1778, was forty-five years old 
when her uncle and father-in-law, Charles X., as- 
cended the throne. She was surrounded by universal 
veneration. She was regarded, and with reason, as 
a veritable saint, and by all parties was declared to 
be sans peur et sans reproche. 

The Duchess of Angouleme, shunning the noto- 
riety sought by other princesses, preferred her oratory 
to the salons. Yet her devotion had nothing mean 
or narrow in it. Despite the legendary catastrophes 
that weighed upon her, she always appeared at f^tes 
where her presence was demanded. She laughed with 
good heart at the theatre, and there was nothing morose 
or ascetic in her conversation. She never spoke of 
her misfortunes. One day she was pitying a young 
girl who suffered from chilblains. "I know what 
it is," she said; "I have had them." Then she 
added, without other comment : " True, the winters 
were very severe at that time." She did not wish to 
say that she had had these chilblains while a prisoner 
in the Temple, when fuel was refused to her. 



52 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

But if tlie Princess never spoke of herself, she 
never ceased to think of the martyrs for whom she 
wept. At the Tuileries, she occupied the Pavilion 
de I'Horloge and the Pavilion de Flore, the first floor 
apartments that had been her mother's. She used 
for her own a little salon hung with white velvet 
sown with marguerite lilies. This tapestry was 
the work of the unhappy Queen and of Madame 
Elisabeth. In the same room was a stool on which 
Louis XYII. had languished and suffered. It served 
as prie-dieu to the Orphan of the Temple. There 
was in this stool a drawer where she had put away 
the remaining relics of her parents: the black silk 
vest and white cravat worn by Louis XVI. the day 
of his death ; a lace bonnet of Marie Antoinette, the 
last work done by the Queen in her prison of the 
Conciergerie, which Robespierre had had taken from 
her on the pretext that the widow of the Christian 
King might kill herself with her needle or with 
a lace-string; finally some fragments of the fichu 
which the wind raised from the shoulders of Madame 
Elisabeth when the angelic Princess was already on 
the scaffold. The Dauphiness, who usually dined 
with the King, dined alone on the 21st of January 
and the 16th of October. She shut herself in the 
chamber where she had collected these relics and 
passed the whole day and evening there in prayer. 

The charity of the pious Princess was inexhausti- 
ble. Almost all her revenue was expended in alms. 
She would not have receipts signed by those to whom 



THE DAUPHIN AND DAUPHINESS 53 

she distributed relief. "The duty of givers," she 
said, " is to forget their gifts and the names of those 
who receive them ; it is for those who receive to re- 
member." Nor did she ever ask the political opin- 
ions of those she relieved. To be unfortunate, 
sufficed to excite her interest. One day Sister 
Rosalie, charged by the Princess with paying a pen- 
sion to a man whose ill conduct she had discovered, 
thought it her duty to notify the benefactress, and 
suspend the succor. "My sister," replied the Dau- 
phiness, "continue to pay this man his pension. 
We must be charitable to the good that they may 
persevere, and to the bad that they may become 
better." Sunday, when the Princess did no work, 
she passed the evening in detaching the wax seals 
from letters and envelopes. This wax, converted 
into sticks, produced one thousand francs a year, 
which she sent to a poor family. She gave much, 
but only to Frenchmen and Frenchwomen. She re- 
plied to every demand for aid for foreigners that she 
was sorry not to comply with the request, but she 
should feel that she was doing an injustice to give to 
others while there was a single Frenchman in need. 
On each anniversary of mourning she doubled her 
alms. 

The existence of the Dauphiness at the Tuileries 
passed with extreme regularity. A very early riser, 
like her husband, she made her toilet herself, having 
learned to help herself in her captivity in the Temple. 
She used to breakfast at six o'clock, and at seven 



54 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



daily attended the first Mass in the chapel of the 
Chateau. There was a second at nine o'clock for 
the Dauphin, and a third at eleven for the King. 
From eight to eleven she held audiences. She re- 
tired at ten o'clock, and only prolonged the evening 
to eleven when she visited the Duchess of Berry, for 
whom she had a great affection, and whose children 
she saw two or three times a day. A devoted com- 
panion of Charles X., she always went with him to 
the various royal chateaux. The Count of Puy- 
maigre says in his Souvenirs : — 

" The Dauphiness having by her kindness accus- 
tomed me to speaking freely, I used this privilege 
without embarrassment, but always observing that 
measure which keeps a man of good society within 
just limits, equally careful not to put himself ridicu- 
lously at ease and not to be so abashed by exagger- 
ated respect as to become insipid. I have always 
thought that a princess no more than any other 
woman likes to be bored. I talked much with 
her in the carriage, seeking to amuse the Princess 
with a few anecdotes, and I did not fear to discuss 
serious things with her, on which she expressed her- 
self with real sagacity. When she was accused of 
want of tact in the numerous receptions of which one 
had to undergo the monoton}^, it was often the fault 
of her immediate companions, who neglected to give 
her suitable information as to the various persons 
received. How many times I have hinted to her to 
speak to some devoted man, who regarded a word 



THE DAUPHIN AND DAUPHIN ESS 55 

from the Princess as a signal favor, to yield to re- 
quests, perhaps untimely, to visit some establish- 
ment, to receive the humble petitions of a mayor, a 
cur<^, or a municipal council. I will not deny that 
she had a sort of brusqueness, partly due to an exceed- 
ingly high voice, and moments of ill humor, transient 
no doubt, but which nevertheless left a painful im- 
pression on those who were subjected to them. Ma- 
dame the Dauphiness made no mistake as to the state 
of France ; she was not the dupe of the obsequiousness 
of certain men of the court, and merit was certain to 
obtain her support whether it had been manifested 
under the old or the new regime ; but she had not the 
influence she was supposed to have, and I doubt if 
she tried to acquire it." 

One day the Princess was talking to the Prefect of 
the Oise about the great noblemen who had posses- 
sions in the Department. 

"Have they any influence over the people?" she 
asked him. 

"No, Madame, and it is their own fault. M. de 
La Rochefoucauld is the only one who is popular, 
but his influence is against you. As to the others, 
greedy of the benefits of the court, they come to their 
estates only to save money, to regulate their accounts 
with their managers, and the people, receiving no 
mark of their interest, acknowledge no obligation to 
them." 

"You are perfectly right," replied the Dauphiness, 
"that is not the way with the English aristocracy." 



56 THE DUCHESS OF BEBEY 

"She saw with pain," adds M. de Puymaigre, 
"the marriages for money made by certain men of 
the court, but not when they allied themselves with 
an honorable plebeian family; her indignation was 
justly shown toward those who took their wives in 
families whose coveted riches came from an impure 
source." 

The extraordinary catastrophes that had fallen on 
the daughter of Louis XYI. and Marie Antoinette 
had been a great experience for her, and she was not 
surprised at the recantations of the courtiers. The 
Hundred Days had, perhaps, suggested even more 
reflections to her than her captivity in the Temple or 
her early exile. She could not forget how, in 1815, 
she had been abandoned by officers who, but the day 
before, had offered her such protestations and such 
vows. In the midst of present prosperity she had a 
sort of instinct of future adversity. Something told 
her that she was not done with sorrow, and that the 
cup of bitterness was not drained to the dregs. 
While every one about her contemplated the future 
with serene confidence, she reflected on the extreme 
mobility of the French character, and still distrusted 
inconstant fortune. The morrow of the birth of 
the Duke of Bordeaux one of her household said to 
her : — 

"Your Highness was very happy yesterday." 

"Yes, very happy yesterday, " responded the daugh- 
ter of Louis XYL, "but to-day I am reflecting on 
the destiny of this child." 



THE DAUPHIN AND BAUPHINESS 57 

To any one inclined to be deceived by the illusions 
of the prestige surrounding the accession of Charles 
X., it ought to have sufficed to cast a glance on the 
austere countenance of the Orphan of the Temple, to 
be recalled to the tragic reality of things. The King 
had for his niece and daughter-in-law an affection 
blended with compassion and respect. The pious 
and revered Princess gave to the court a character of 
gravity and sanctity. 



VII 

MADAME 

THE Duchess of Angoul^me and the Duchess of 
Berry lived on the best of terms, showing 
toward each other a lively sympathy. Yet there was 
little analogy between their characters, and the two 
Princesses might even be said to form a complete 
contrast, one representing the grave side, the other 
the smiling side of the court. 

Born November 7, 1798, and a widow since Feb- 
ruary 14, 1820, Madame (as the Duchess of Berry 
was called after the Duchess of Angouleme became 
Dauphiness) was but twenty-five when her father-in- 
law, Charles X., ascended the throne. She was cer- 
tainly not pretty, but there was in her something 
seductive and captivating. The vivacity of her 
manner, her spontaneous conversation, her ardor, 
her animation, her youth, gave her charm. Edu- 
cated at the court of her grandfather, Ferdinand, 
King of Naples, who carried bonhomie and famil- 
iarity to exaggeration, and lived in the company of 
peasants and lazzaroni, she had a horror of pretension 
and conceit. Her child-like physiognomy had a 
certain playful and rebellious expression; slightly 
58 



MADAME 59 



indecorous speech did not displease her. This idol 
of the aristocracy was simple and jovial, mingling in 
her conversation Gallic salt and Neapolitan gaiety. 
In contrast with so many princesses who weary their 
companions and are wearied by them, she amused 
herself and others. Entering a family celebrated by 
its legendary catastrophes, she had lost nothing of 
the playfulness which was the essence of her nature. 
The Tuileries, the scene of such terrible dramas, did 
not inspire her as it did the Duchess of Angoul^me, 
with sad reflections. When she heard Mass in the 
Chapel of the Chateau, she did not say to herself that 
here had resounded the furies of the Convention. 
The grand apartments, the court of the Carrousel, 
the garden, could not recall to her the terrible scenes 
of the 20th of June and the 10th of August. When 
she entered the Pavilion de Flore, she did not reflect 
that there had sat the Committee of Public Safety. 
The Tuileries were, to her eyes, only the abode of 
power and pleasure, an agreeable and beautiful dwell- 
ing that had brought her only happiness, since there 
she had given birth to the Child of Europe, the 
"Child of Miracle." 

The Duchess of Berry thought that a palace should 
be neither a barracks nor a convent nor a prison, and 
that even for a princess there is no happiness with- 
out liberty. She loved to go out without an escort, 
to take walks, to visit the shops, to go to the little 
theatres, to make country parties. She was like a 
bird in a gilded cage, which often escapes and returns 



60 THE DUCHESS OF BERET 

with pleasure only because it has escaped. She was 
neither worn out nor hlasSe ; everything interested 
her, everything made her gay ; she saw only the good 
side of things. In her all was young — mind, char- 
acter, imagination, heart. Thus she knew none of 
those vague disquietudes, that causeless melancholy, 
that unreasoned sadness, from which suffer so many 
queens and so many princesses on the steps of a 
throne. 

Gracious and simple in her manners, modest in her 
bearing, more inclined to laughter and smiles than to 
sobs and tears, satisfied with her lot despite her 
widowhood, she felt happy in being a princess, in 
being a mother, in being in France. Flattered by 
the homage addressed to her on all sides, but without 
haughty pride in it, she protected art and letters with- 
out pedantry, rejuvenated the court, embellished the 
city, spread animation wherever she was seen, and 
appeared to the people like a seductive enchantress. 
Those who were at her receptions found themselves 
not in the presence of a coldly and solemnly majestic 
princess, but of an accomplished mistress of the 
house bent on making her salon agreeable to her 
guests. There was in her nothing to abash, and by 
her gracious aspect, her extreme affability, she knew 
how to put those with whom she talked at their 
ease, while wholly preserving her own rank. She 
was not only polite, she was engaging, always seek- 
ing to say something flattering or kindly to those who 
had the honor to approach her. If she visited a stu- 



MADAME 61 



dio, she congratulated the artist ; in a shop she made 
many purchases and talked with the merchants with 
a grace more charming to them, perhaps, than even 
her extreme liberality. If she went to a theatre, 
she enjoyed herself like a child. The select little 
fetes given by her always had a character of special 
originality and gaiety. 

The Dauphiness had a higher rank at court than 
Madame, because she was married to the heir of the 
throne. But as she took much less interest in social 
matters, she did not shine with so much eclat. The 
Duchess of Berry was the queen of elegance. In all 
questions of adornment, toilet, furniture, she set the 
fashion. A commission as "tradesman of Madame" 
was the dream of all the merchants. Sometimes, on 
New Year's Day, her purchases at the chief shops 
were announced in the Moniteur. There were hardly 
any cTironiques in the journals under the Restoration. 
A simple "item " sufficed for an account of the most 
dazzling fetes. If the customs of the newspapers had 
been under the reign of Charles X. what they are 
now, the Duchess of Berry would have filled all the 
"society notes," and the objective point of every 
"reporter," to use an American expression, would 
have been the Pavilion de Marsan, the "Little Cha- 
teau," as it was then called. There indeed shone in 
all their splendor the stars of French and foreign 
nobility, the women who possessed all sorts of aris- 
tocracy — of birth, of fortune, of wit, and of beauty. 
This little circle of luxury and elegance excited less 



62 THE DUCHESS OF BERET 

jealousy and less criticism than did the intimate 
society of Marie Antoinette in the last part of the 
old regime, because in the Queen's time, to fre- 
quent the Petit Trianon was the road to honors, 
while under Charles X. the intimates of the Pavil- 
ion de Marsan did not make their social pleasures 
the stepping-stone to fortune. 

The Duchess of Berry never meddled in politics. 
Doubtless her sympathies, like those of the Dau- 
phiness, were with the Right, but she exercised 
no influence on the appointment of ministers and 
functionaries. Charles X. never consulted her about 
public affairs ; the idea would never have occurred to 
the old King to ask counsel of so young and inexpe- 
rienced a woman. 

It is but justice to the Princess to say that while 
wholly inclined toward the Right, she had none of 
the exaggeration of the extremists in either her ideas 
or her attitude, and that, repudiating the arrogance 
and prejudices of the past, she never, in any way, 
dreamed of the resurrection of the old regime. 
She was liked by the army, being known as a good 
rider and a courageous Princess. When she talked 
with officers she had the habit of saying things that 
went straight to their hearts. There was no differ- 
ence in her politeness to the men of the old nobility 
or to the parvenus of victory. The former servitors 
of Napoleon were grateful for her friendliness to 
them, and perhaps they would always have respected 
the white flag — the flag of Henry IV., had it been 



MADAME 63 



borne by the gracious hand of his worthy descendant. 
To sum up, she was what would be called to-day a 
very "modern" Princess; her r61e might well have 
been to share the ideas and aspirations of the new 
France. 

The Duchess of Berry led a very active life. 
When she came to France she was in the habit of 
rising late. But her husband, who believed the days 
to be shorter for princes than for other men, showed 
that he disliked this, and after that the Princess would 
not remain in bed after six o'clock, winter or sum- 
mer. As soon as she was ready she summoned her 
children, and for half an hour gave them her instruc- 
tions. On leaving them, she went to hear Mass, and 
then breakfasted. Next came the walks, almost 
always with a useful object in view. Sometimes it 
was a hospital to which Madame carried relief, some- 
times an artist's studio, a shop, an industrial estab- 
lishment that she encouraged by her purchases and 
her presence. On her return she busied herself with 
the tenderest and most conscientious care in the edu- 
cation of the two daughters whom her husband had 
left to her, and who have since become, one the 
Baroness of Chorette, the other the Princess of 
Lucinge. Audiences took up the remainder of the 
morning, sometimes lasting to dinner time. When 
some one said to her one day that she must be very 
tired of them, she replied : " During all that time I 
am told the truth, and I find as much pleasure in hear- 
ing it as people of society do in reading romances." 



64 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

Madame was very charitable. Slie devoted to tlie 
poor an ordinary and an extraordinary budget. The 
tenth of her revenue was always applied to the relief 
of the unfortunate, and was deposited by twelfths, 
each month, with her First Almoner. This tithe was 
distributed w^ith as much method as sagacity. A 
valet de chambre, each evening, brought to the Prin- 
cess the day's petitions for relief. Madame classified 
them with her own hand in alphabetical order, and 
registered and numbered them. Whatever the hour, 
she never adjourned this task to the morrow. The 
private secretary then went over these petitions and 
presented an analysis of them to the Princess, who 
indicated on the margin what she wished to give. 
This was the ordinary budget of the poor, the tenth 
of Madame's revenue. But she had, besides, an ex- 
traordinary budget of charity for the unfortunate 
who were the more to be respected because they 
concealed themselves in obscurity and awaited in- 
stead of seeking help. It often happened that the 
Princess borrowed in order to give more. The total 
of her revenues amounted to 1,730,000 francs, — ■ 
1,500,000 francs from the Treasury, 100,000 francs 
in Naples funds, coming from, her dower, and 130,000 
francs from her domain of Rosny. Madame expended 
all in alms or in purchases intended to encourage the 
arts and commerce. 

The Duchess of Angouleme and the Duchess of 
Berry each had in the environs of Paris a pleasure 
house, which was their Petit Trianon, where they 



MADAME 65 

could lead a simpler life, less subject to the laws of 
etiquette than in the royal Chateaux. That of the 
Dauphiness was Villeneuve-l'Etang; and that of 
Madame, Rosny. The first had been bought of Mar- 
shal Soult by the Duchess of Angouleme in 1821. 
When she rode from Paris, this was always her des- 
tination. When she lived at Saint Cloud, she often 
set out on foot in the early morning alone, and fol- 
lowed across the park a little path known as the " road 
of the Dauphiness,'* to a little gate of the Ch^lteau of 
Villeneuve-l'Etang, of which she carried the key. 

Rosny is a chateau situated in the Department of 
Seine-et-Oise, seven kilometres from Mantes, where 
Sully, the famous minister of Henry IV., was born, 
and which had been bought in 1818 by the Duke of 
Berry. It was the favorite resort of Madame. She 
went there often and passed a great part of the sum- 
mer. There she lived the life of a simple private 
person, receiving herself those who came to offer 
homage or request aid. The village of Rosny profited 
by the liberality of the Chateau. La Quotidienne 
said in an article reproduced by the Moniteur : — 

"Since Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Berry 
has owned the estate of Rosny, her sole occupation 
has been to secure the happiness of this country. 
Every journey she makes is marked by some act of 
goodness. Besides the Hospital of Saint-Charles, a 
monument of her beneficence and piety, which is 
open to all the sick of the country, she sends out 
relief to the homes of the needy every day. The 



66 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

houses that rise in the village replace wretched huts, 
and give a more agreeable and cheerful aspect to the 
place. The children of either sex, the object of her 
most tender solicitude, are taught at her expense. 
At every journey Madame honors them with a visit 
and encourages them with prizes which she conde- 
scends to distribute herself. ' ' 

In his Souvenirs Intimes the Count de Mesnard, 
First Equerry of the Duchess of Berry, writes : — 

"The King, Charles X., did not recognize in his 
daughter-in-law nearly the solidity that she had. He 
believed her to be light-minded, and only looked upon 
her as a great child, though he loved her much and 
her gaiety pleased him beyond measure, being him- 
self of a gay nature. You may have heard that one 
da}^ Madame rode in an omnibus. That is not cor- 
rect. But it is true that one day Her Royal High- 
ness said to the King : — 

" ' Father, if you will wager ten thousand francs, 
I will ride in an omnibus to-morrow. ' 

"'It's the last thing I should do, my dear,' replied 
His Majesty. 'You are quite crazy enough to do 
it.'" 

M. de Mesnard adds this reflection : " What the 
King regarded as folly was only the appearance of 
it. There was in Madame a rich fund of reason, 
justice, and humanity. Independently of all the 
acts of beneficence daily done here, Madame employs 
still more considerable sums in the support of young 
girls in the convents of LuQon and Mantes, and in 



MADAME 67 



several otlier establishments. There are in the col- 
leges a large number of young people of families of 
modest fortune, whose expenses she pays. The Hos- 
pital of Rosny alone costs Madame from twenty thou- 
sand to twenty-five thousand francs a year. The 
exhaustless bounty of this august Princess extends 
to all. There is no sort of aid that Her Royal High- 
ness does not take pleasure in according: subscrip- 
tions without interest for her, for concerts that she 
will not hear, for benefit performances that she will 
not see, everything gets a subscription from her, and 
it all costs more than is convenient with the Prin- 
cess's revenue. Sometimes it happens that her funds 
are exhausted, and as her benevolence never is, em- 
barrassment follows . " 

Apropos of this the Count de Mesnard relates a 
touching anecdote. One winter exceedingly cold, 
the Duchess of Berry was about to give a f^te in the 
Pavilion de Marsan. During the day she had super- 
vised the preparations. Things were arranged per- 
fectly, when all at once her face saddened. She 
was asked respectfully what had displeased her. 
" What icy weather! " she cried. "Poor people may 
be dying of cold and hunger to-night while we are 
taking our delights. That spoils my pleasure." 
Then she added emphatically i " Go call the Marquis 
de S ass en ay " (her Treasurer). 

The Marquis came promptly. 

"Monsieur," said the good Princess, "you must 
write instantly to the twelve mayors of Paris, and 



68 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

in each letter put one thousand francs to be ex- 
pended in wood, and distributed this very night to 
the poor families of each arrondissement. It is very 
little, but it may save some unfortunates." 

The Treasurer responded: "Madame, I should be 
eager to obey the orders of Her Royal Highness, but 
she has nothing, or almost nothing, in her treasury." 

A feeling of discontent was strongly depicted on 
the face of Madame, who was about to give expres- 
sion to it, when M. de Mesnard hastened to say that 
the funds of the First Equerry were in better state 
than those of the Treasurer, and remitted to the latter 
the twelve thousand francs, which were distributed 
to the poor that evening according to the Princess's 
wishes. 

The Duchess of Berry had the double gift of pleas- 
ing and making herself loved. All the persons of 
her household, all her servitors, from the great nobles 
and great ladies to the domestics and the chamber- 
maids, were deeply devoted to her. Poor or rich, 
she had attentions for all. Listen to the Count de 
Mesnard : — 

"Madame is incessantly making presents to all 
who approach her. At New Year's her apartments are 
a veritable bazaar furnished from all the shops of 
Paris; her provision, made from every quarter, is 
universal, from bon-bons to the most precious articles 
— everything is there. Madame has thought of each 
specially ; the people of her own service are not for- 
gotten any more than the ladies and officers of her 



MADAME 69 



household; father, mother, children, every one, is 
included in the distribution. The royal family 
naturally comes first; next, the numerous relatives 
of the Palais Royal, of whom she is very fond; then 
her family at Naples, which is also numerous ; and 
finally all of us, masters and servants, we all have 
our turn." 

No one, we think, has made a more exact portrait 
of the Duchess of Berry than the Count Armand de 
Pontmartin, who is so familiar with the Restoration. 
In his truthful and lively Souvenirs d^un vieux cri- 
tique, how well he presents " this flower of Ischia or 
of Castellamare, transplanted to the banks of the 
Seine, under the gray sky of Paris, to this Chateau 
des Tuileries, v/hich the revolutions peopled with 
phantoms before making it a spectre." 

How really she was "this good Duchess, so 
French and so Neapolitan at once, half Vesuvius, 
half school-girl, whom nothing must prevent us from 
honoring and loving." The chivalric and senti- 
mental rhetoric of the time, the elegies of the poets, 
the noble prose of Chateaubriand, the tearful articles 
of the royalist journals, have condemned her to ap- 
pear forever solemn and sublime. It was sought to 
confine her youth between a tomb and a cradle. But 
as M. de Pontmartin so finely remarks : " At the end 
of two or three years her true nature appears beneath 
this artificial drapery. Amusements recommence, 
distractions abound. The Princess is no longer a 
heroine; she is a sprite. The beach of Dieppe sings 



70 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY - 

her praises better, a thousand times better, than the 
chorus of courtiers. She loves pleasure, but she 
wishes every pleasure to be a grace or a benefit. She 
creates a mine of gold under the sand of the Norman 
coast; she pacifies political rancor and soothes the 
wounds of the grumblers of the Grand Army. She 
makes popular the name of Bourbon, which had 
suffered from so much ingratitude. The Petit-Cha- 
teau, as her delightful household was called, renews 
the elegant manners, the exquisite gallantries of the 
court of Anne of Austria, and offers to the romancers 
the models of which Balzac, later, made so much too 
free use. There I see our amiable Duchess in her 
true element, not on the kind of Sinai on which the 
writers of the white flag have perched her, prodigal 
in their imitations of Bossuet, — between Jeanne 
d'Arc and Jeanne Hachette, between Valentine de 
Milan and the Widow of Malabar." 

To sum up, the Duchess of Berry was to the court 
of Charles X. what the Duchess of Burgundy was to 
that of Louis XIV. Her lovely youth brightened 
everything. Let us do her this justice: despite a 
character in appearance frivolous, she carried to a 
kind of fanaticism the love of France and passion for 
French glory. There was one thing that the gracious 
widow took very seriously, — the rights of her son. 
She would have risked a thousand deaths to defend 
that child, who represented in her heart the cause of 
the fatherland. Where he was concerned there was 
in the attitude of this frail young woman something 



MADAME 71 



firm and decided. To a sagacious observer, the 
amazon was already manifest under the lady of 
society. She was like those officers who shine 
equally at the ball and on the field of battle. Rec- 
ognizing in her more than one imperfection, she 
cannot be denied either courage, or intelligence, or 
heart. By her qualities as by her defects she was of 
the race of Henry IV. But she was more frank and 
more grateful than the Bdarnais. Doubtless she did 
not have the genius, the prodigious ability, the fine 
and profound political sense, of that great man; but 
her nature was better, her generosity greater, her 
character more sympathetic. 



VIII 

THE ORLEANS FAMILY 

AT tlie accession of Charles X., Louis Philippe, 
Duke of Orleans, chief of the younger branch 
of the Bourbons, born at Paris, October 6th, 1773, 
was not yet fifty-seven years old. He married No- 
vember 25th, 1809, Marie-Am^lie, Princess of the 
Two Sicilies, whose father, Ferdinand I., reigned at 
Naples, and whose mother, the Queen Marie-Caro- 
line, sister of Marie Antoinette, died at Venice, 
September 7th, 1814. Marie-Am^lie, born April 
26th, 1782, was forty-two years old when Charles X. 
ascended the throne. Of her marriage with the 
Duke of Orleans there were born five sons and four 
daughters : — 

1. Ferdinand-Philippe-Louis-Charles-Henri-Rou- 
lin, Duke of Chartres, born at Palermo, September 
3d, 1810. (When his father became King, he took 
the title of Duke of Orleans, and died from a fall 
from his carriage going from the Tuileries to Neuilly 
on the Chemin de la R^ volte, July 13th, 1842.) 

2. Louise-Marie-Th^r^se-Caroline-Elisabeth, Ma- 
demoiselle d' Orleans, born at Palermo the 3d of 
April, 1812. (She married the King of the Bel- 

72 



THE ORLEANS FAMILY 73 

gians, Leopold I., August 9tli, 1832, and died Octo- 
ber 11th, 1850.) 

3. Marie-Christine-Caroline-Ad^la'ide - Fran9oise- 
Leopoldine, Mademoiselle deValois, born at Palermo, 
April 12th, 1813. (She was designated by the name 
of the Princess Marie, distinguished herself in the 
arts, made the famous statue of Jeanne d'Arc, mar- 
ried October 17th, 1837, the Duke Frederic William 
of Wiirtemberg, and died January 2d, 1839.) 

4. Louis-Charles-Philippe-Raphael, Duke of Ne- 
mours, born at Paris, October 25th, 1814. 

5. Marie-Cl^mentine-Caroline-L^opoldine, Made- 
moiselle de Beaujolais, born at Neuilly June 3d, 
1817. (She was designated by the name of the Prin- 
cess Clementine, and married, April 20th, 1843, the 
Prince August, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.) 

6. Fran9ois - Ferdinand - Philippe - Louis - Marie, 
Prince de Joinville, born at Neuilly, August 14th, 
1818. 

7. Charles-Ferdinand-Louis-Philippe-Emmanuel, 
Duke of Penthievre, born at Paris, January 1st, 
1820. (He died July 25th, 1828.) 

8. Henri - Eugene - Philippe - Louis, Duke d'Au- 
male, born at Paris, January 16th, 1822. 

9. Antoine-Marie-Philippe-Louis, Duke of Mont- 
pensier, born at Neuilly, July 5th, 1824. 

The Duke of Orleans had a sister who lived with 
him at the Palais Royal, and was reputed to be his 
Egeria. She was Louise-Marie-Ad^la'ide-Eugenie, 
Mademoiselle d' Orleans, as she was called under the 



74 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

Restoration. Born August 23d, 1777, she had been 
educated by Madame de Genlis, with her brother, and 
was said to be attached to the ideas of the Liberal 
party. (It was she who in 1830 decided Louis-Phi- 
lippe to accept the crown, took the name of Madame 
Adelaide, and died, unmarried, some days before the 
revolution of the 24th of February, 1848.) 

Marie-Amelie, Duchess of Orleans, was the sister 
of the Prince Royal of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand, 
father of the Duchess of Berry, and the niece was 
very fond of her aunt. The two Princesses were 
united by other bonds than those of blood. During 
all her infancy the Duchess of Berry had lived with 
her aunt at Palermo and Naples. Both were de- 
scended in direct line from the great Empress, Maria 
Theresa. Both had greatly loved the Queen Marie- 
Caroline, of whom one was the granddaughter, the 
other the daughter. Both professed great admiration 
for the Martyr-Queen, Marie Antoinette, of whom 
one was the grand-niece, the other the niece. The 
devotion and family feeling of the Duchess of Or- 
leans won every one's sympathy for her, and the 
Duchess of Berry had a respectful attachment for 
her. Their relations were as constant as they were 
friendly. There existed between the Palais Royal 
and the Pavilion de Marsan, dwellings so near each 
other, a friendship and neighborliness that left noth- 
ing to be desired. 

The Duke of Bordeaux and his sister. Mademoi- 
selle, were very fond of their little Orleans cousins. 



TEE ORLEANS FAMILY 75 

There was a certain pleasure in thinking that the 
Duke of Chartres might one day become the husband 
of Mademoiselle. This young Prince, already very 
amiable and sympathetic, was the favorite of the 
Duchess of Berry. She said to herself that he would 
be the son-in-law of her dreams. Every time that she 
went to the Palais Royal, where her visits were inces- 
sant, she was received with transports of affection. 
Nowhere did she enjoy herself more. Louis-Philippe 
treated her with deference and courtesy. She be- 
lieved sincerely in his friendship, and any one who 
had shown in her presence the least doubt of the 
loyalty of her aunt's husband would not have ven- 
tured to complete the phrase expressing it. The 
Duchess of Berry was to preserve this confidence 
until the Revolution of 1830. 

Charles X. had a kindly feeling, founded on very 
real sympathy, for the Duke of Orleans and all his 
family. During the Emigration, as under the reign 
of Louis XYIIL, he had always maintained very cor- 
dial relations with the Duke, and had tried to efface 
the bad memories of Philippe Egalit^. Charles X. 
was as confiding as Louis XVIII. was distrustful. 
Oj)timist, like all good natures, the new King would 
not believe evil. He attributed to others his own 
good qualities. Louis XVIII. always had suspicions 
as to the Duke of Orleans. "Since his return," he 
said, in 1821, " the Duke of Orleans is the chief of a 
party without seeming to be. His name is a threat- 
ening flag, his palace a rallying-place. He makes no 



76 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

stir, but I can see that he makes progress. This ac- 
tivity without movement is disquieting. How 
can you undertake to check the march of a man who 
makes no step ? " Every time the Duke attempted 
to bring up the question of exchanging his title of 
Most Serene Highness for that of Royal Highness, 
the King stubbornly resisted. " The Duke of Orleans 
is quite near enough to the throne already," he re- 
plied to all solicitations. " I shall be careful to bring 
him no nearer." 

This refusal was very depressing to the Duke. 
One circumstance rendered it still more annoying. 
As a king's daughter, his wife was a Royal High- 
ness. By this title she enjoyed honors denied to her 
husband. When she was present at court with him 
she was first announced, both doors of the salon 
being opened: "Her Royal Highness, Madame the 
Duchess of Orleans." Then one door having been 
closed, the usher announced: "His Most Serene 
Highness, Monseigneur the Duke of Orleans." 
This distinction was very disagreeable to the Duke. 
Charles X. hastened to abolish it. September 21st, 
1824, he accorded the title of Royal Highness to the 
Duke of Orleans, and three days later he conferred 
this title, so much desired, on the children of the 
sister of the Duke. The latter showed his great 
pleasure. Though he might favor liberalism and 
give pledges to democracy, he remained a Prince to 
the marrow of his bones. He loved not only money, 
but honors, and attached extreme importance to ques- 



THE OBLEANS FAMILY 77 

tions of etiquette. The memories of his childhood 
and his early youth bound him to the old regime 
and despite appearances to the contrary, this Prince, 
so dear to the bourgeois and to the National Guard, 
was always by his tastes and aspirations a man of 
Versailles. 

Charles X. would gladly have said to the Duke of 
Orleans, as Augustus to Cinna, speaking of his ben- 
efits : — 

" Je t'en avals combl^, je t'en veux accabler." 

He was not content with according him a title of 
honor; he gave him something much more solid, 
by causing to be returned to him, with the consent 
of the Chambers, the former domain and privileges 
of the House of Orleans. This was not easy. It 
required not only the good-will of the Chateau, but 
the vote of the Chambers, and the majority was 
hardty favorable to the Duke of Orleans, of whom it 
cherished the same suspicions as Louis XYIII. The 
Duchess of Berry pleaded warmly the cause of her 
aunt's husband, and conspired with Charles X. 
against the Right, the members of which in this 
case believed it a service to royalty to disobey the 
King. The opposition to the project seemed likely 
to be so strong, that the government was obliged to 
commit a sort of moral violence upon the Chamber of 
Deputies. The King directed his ministers to join 
in some way the question of the apanages of the 
House of Orleans with the disposition of his own 
civil list. The King thought that the sentiments of 



78 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

the Chamber for himself and his family would make 
them adopt the whole en bloc. It was a device of his 
kindliness, a sort of smuggling in the King's coach, 
as was said by M. de Labour donnaye. A large num- 
ber of deputies demanded a division of the question. 
The ministers had to make great efforts and mount 
the tribune many times to defend the measure, which 
passed only by a very feeble majority. The Duke 
of Orleans, now at the very height of his desires, 
thanked Charles X. with effusion. 

Nor was this all ; from the millions of indemnity 
to the emigres, the Duke of Orleans drew 14,000,- 
000 francs. The opposition chiefs of the Left imi- 
tated the Prince and profited largely by the law that 
they had opposed and condemned. The Duke of 
Choiseul obtained 1,100,000 francs, the Duke of La 
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt 1,400,000 francs, M. Gad- 
tan de La Rochefoucauld 1,429,000 francs. General 
Lafayette himself 1,450,000 francs. 

The Orleanist party was already beginning to take 
form, perhaps without the knowledge of its chief. 
In his pamphlets of 1824, Paul-Louis Courier de- 
voted himself to separating the older from the 
younger branch of the House, declaring that he 
should like to be a resident of a commune of Paris 
if the Duke of Orleans were its mayor, for from a 
Prince the Duke had become a man during the Emi- 
gration, and had never begged bread of a foreign 
hand. Louis-Philippe continued prudently the r61e 
he had played at the end of the first Restoration and 



THE ORLEANS FAMILY 79 

during the Hundred Days. While professing an 
obsequious and enthusiastic respect for Charles X., 
he secretly flattered the Bonapartists and the Lib- 
erals. He sent his eldest son to the public school, 
as if to insinuate that he remained faithful to the 
ideas of equality from which his father had gained 
his surname. He made very welcome the coryphees 
of the Opposition, such as General Foy and M. Laf- 
fitte, to the Palais Royal, and received them in halls 
where the brush of Horace Vernet had represented 
the great battles of the tricolor flag. When General 
Foy died, in November, 1825, the Duke of Orleans 
put his name for ten thousand francs to the subscrip- 
tion opened to provide a fund for the children of the 
General. Some friendly representations were made 
from the Chateau to the Palais Royal on this matter. 
It was answered that the Duke of Orleans had sub- 
scribed not as Prince, but as a friend, and in private 
called attention to the modesty of the gift compared 
with others, with that of M. Casimir P^rier, for 
example, which amounted to fifty thousand francs. 
This excuse was satisfactory at the Tuileries. 

Is this saying that Louis-Philippe was already at 
this time thinking of dethroning his benefactor, his 
relative, and his King? We think not. He profited 
by the errors of Charles X. ; but if Charles X. had 
not committed them, the idea of usurpation would 
not have occurred to the mind of the chief of the 
younger branch. Men are not so profoundly good 
or so profoundly wicked. They let themselves be 



80 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

carried further than they wish, and if the acts they 
are to commit some day were foretold them, the 
prophecies would most often seem to them as impos- 
sible as insulting. 

Madame de Gontaut, Governess of the Children 
of France, recounts an incident that took place at the 
Louvre, December 22d, 1824, at the opening of the 
session of the Chambers : " The crowd was prodigious. 
The Dauphiness and the Duchess of Berry and Made- 
moiselle d' Orleans were present in one of the bays. 
The Children of France were there. The Duchess 
of Berry took the Duke of Bordeaux by her side. 
The Duchess of Orleans called Mademoiselle, whom 
she loved tenderly, to her. The canon announced 
the approach of the King. At the moment of his ap- 
pearance the hall resounded with acclamations. The 
platform for the royal family was the one prepared 
for the late King; there had been left a slight eleva- 
tion in it, that the King did not see, and he stumbled 
on it. With the movement his hat, held on his arm, 
fell; the Duke of Orleans caught it. The Duchess 
of Orleans said to me : — 

"'The King was about to fall; my husband sus- 
tained him. ' 

"I answered: 'No, Madame; Monseigneur has 
caught His Majesty's hat.' 

" The Dauphiness turned and looked at me. We 
did not speak of it until six months after. Neither 
of us had forgotten it." 

A few years more and Charles X. was to drop, not 
his hat, but his crown. 



IX 

THE PEINCE 0¥ COIJODE 

AT the time of the accession of Charles X., the 
family of Cond^ was represented only by an 
old man of sixty-eight, Louis-Henri-Joseph de Bour- 
bon-Cond^, born April 13th, 1756. At the death of 
his father in 1818, he had taken the title of Prince 
of Cond^, while retaining that of Dnke of Bourbon, 
by which he had previously been designated. On the 
10th of January, 1822, he lost his wife. Princess 
Louise-Marie-Th^r^se-Bathilde, sister of the Duke 
of Orleans, mother of the unfortunate Duke d'En- 
ghien, and he lost, on March 10th, 1824, his sister. 
Mademoiselle de Cond^, the nun whose convent of 
the Perpetual Adoration was situated in the Temple 
near the site of the former tower where Louis XVI. 
and his family had been confined. 

The Duke of Bourbon, in his youth, had had 
a famous duel with the Count of Artois, the future 
Charles X. No resentment subsisted between the 
two princes, who afterwards maintained the most 
cordial relations. During the Emigration, the Duke 
of Bourbon served with valor in the army of his 
father, the Prince of Cond^. While the white flag 

81 



82 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



floated at the lieacl of a regiment he was found fight- 
ing for the royal cause ; then, the struggle ended, he 
retired to England, where he had lived near Louis 
XVIII., and always at his disposition. Returning 
to France at the Restoration, he had since resided 
almost always at Chantilly or at Saint-Leu, without 
his wife, from whom he had long been separated. 
He was ranked as a reactionary, but busied himself 
little with politics, and exerted no influence. 

The Count of Puymaigre, who, in his office as 
Prefect of the Oise, at the commencement of the 
reign of Charles X., often went to Chantilly, speaks 
of him in his Souvenirs : — ■ 

" The name of my father, much beloved by the late 
Prince of Cond^, more than my title of Prefect, 
caused me to be received with welcome, and I took 
advantage of it the more gladly, because I have never 
seen a house where one was more at one's ease, and 
where there was more of that comfortable life known 
before the Revolution as the chateau life. There 
was little of the prince in him; he was more like an 
elderly bachelor who liked to have about him joy, 
movement, pleasure, a wholly Epicurean life. The 
society of Chantilly ordinarily consisted of the house- 
hold of the Prince ; that is to say, old servitors of his 
father, some ladies whose husbands held at this little 
court the places of equerries or gentlemen of the 
chamber, some persons who were invited, or like 
myself, had the right to come when they wished, and 
among this number I frequently saw the Prince of 



THE PBINGE OF CONDJE 83 

Rohan, relative of the Duke of Bourbon, disappointed 
since of the portion of the inheritance he hoped for; 
finally, some Englishmen and their wives. The tone 
was quite free, since the Prince set the example. 
And I recall that one day he recommended me to be 
gallant with one of the English ladies, who, he said, 
would like nothing better than to receive such atten- 
tions. That seemed very likely to me, but she was 
not young enough to tempt me to carry the adventure 
very far." 

The real chatelaine of this little court of Chantilly 
was a beautiful Englishwoman, Sophie Dawes, mar- 
ried to a French officer, the Baron of Feuch^res. 
Born about 1795, in the Isle of Wight, Sophie Dawes 
was the daughter of a fisherman. It is said that she 
was brought up by charity, and played for some time 
at Covent Garden Theatre, London. But her early 
life is unknown, and what is told of it is not trust- 
worthy. In 1817, she was taken into the intimacy 
of the Duke of Bourbon, and afterwards acquired an 
irresistible ascendancy over him. When she became 
his inseparable companion, she explained her pres- 
ence with him by the story that she was his natural 
daughter, and the Duke avoided confirming or deny- 
ing this assertion. In 1818, he arranged a marriage 
between his favorite and a very honorable officer, the 
Baron of Feuch^res, who believed, in good faith, that 
Sophie Dawes was really the daughter of the Duke 
of Bourbon, and not his mistress. The marriage was 
celebrated in England, but the pair returned to Chan' 



84 r^r^ duchess of bebry 

tilly. The Baron of Feucli^res figures in tlie royal 
Almanacs of 1821, 1822, 1823, as lieutenant-colonel, 
gentleman in ordinary to tlie Duke of Bourbon, 
Prince of Cond^, but not in the Almanac of 1824. 

In a very interesting work, the Vie de Charles X. 
by the Abb^ de V ddrenne, the reader will find : — 

" By the marriage of Sophie Dawes, did the Duke 
of Bourbon wish to break away from a guilty bond? 
It is generally believed. As to M. de Feuch^res, 
convinced that his wife was the daughter of the 
Prince, he had no suspicion. It was Sophie Dawes 
herself who enlightened him, to drive him away. 
The effect of the revelation was terrible. M. de 
Feuch^res, indignant, quitted his wife. There no 
longer remained about the Prince any but the crea- 
tures of Madame de Feuch^res. Every one did her 
bidding at Chantilly, and the Prince most of all." 

The favorite sought to palliate her false situation 
in the eyes of society by doing good with the Prince's 
money. The Count of Puymaigre relates that she 
many times took him to the Hospital of Chantilly, 
endowed by the munificence of the great Cond^, the 
revenues of which she wished to increase. He adds : 
" I urged her to this good work as much as I could ; 
for good, by whatever hand done, endures." 

One day the Duchess of Angoul^me asked him if 
he went often to Chantilly. 

" I go there," replied the Prefect, " to pay my court 
to the Duke of Bourbon, whom I have the honor of 
having in my department." 



THE PBINCE OF CONDE 85 

"That is very well," responded the Dauphiness, 
"but I hope that Madame de Puymaigre does not 
go." 

The grand passion of the Duke of Bourbon was 
hunting. The Prefect of the Oise says : — 

"It was particularly during the hunts of Saint- 
Hubert that Chantilly was a charming abode. The 
start was made at seven o'clock in the morning, and 
usually I was in the carriage of the Prince with the 
everlasting Madame de Feuch^res. The hunting- 
lodge was delightful and in a most picturesque situa- 
tion. There twenty or thirty persons met to the 
sound of horns, in the midst of dogs, horses, and 
huntsmen. The coursing train of the Prince was 
finer and more complete than that of the King. A 
splendid breakfast was served at the place of rendez- 
vous, built and furnished in the Gothic style of the 
thirteenth century, and there the chase began. Al- 
though I told the Prince that I was no hunter, he 
often made me mount my horse and accompany him; 
but often having enjoyed the really attractive spec- 
tacle of the stag, driven by a crowd of dogs, which 
launched themselves after him across the waters of 
a little lake, I hastened back to the Gothic pavilion 
where the ladies and a few men remained." 

The Prince said one day to the Prefect : — 

"Decidedly, you do not love hunting." 

" But I might love it, my lord, if I had such an 
outfit." 

"That'is because you don't know anything about 



86 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

it, my dear Puymaigre; when I was in England, 
hunting all alone in the marshes with my dog Belle, 
I enjoyed it much more than here." 

The Prefect thus concludes his description of life 
at Chantilly : — 

"Dinner was at six o'clock in the magnificent 
gallery where the souvenirs of the great Cond^ were 
displayed in all their pomp, and the eyes fell on fine 
pictures of the battles of Rocroy, Senef, Fribourg, 
and Nordlingen, inspiring some regret for the life led 
by the heir of so much glory. After dinner society 
comedy was played on a very pretty stage, where the 
luxury of costumes was very great and the mise-en- 
scene carefully attended to; and this did not make 
the actors any better, although the little plays were 
tolerable. But Madame de Feucheres wishing to play 
Alzire and to take the principal part, which she doled 
out with sad monotony, without change of intona- 
tion from the first line to the last, and with a strongly 
pronounced English accent, it was utterly ridiculous, 
and Voltaire would have flown into a fine passion 
had he seen one of his chefs-d^oeuvres mangled in that 
way. Who could have told that this poor Prince, 
who, if he had neither the virtues nor the dignity 
proper to his rank, was nevertheless a very good fel- 
low, would perish in 1830, in such a tragic manner? " 

Charles X. had a long standing affection for the 
Duke of Bourbon. On September 21st, 1824, he 
conferred on him at the same time as on the Duke of 
Orleans, the title of Royal Highness. The last of 



THE PBINCE OF CON BE 87 

the Condds was, besides, Grand Master of France. 
This court function was honorary rather than real, 
and the Prince appeared at the Tuileries only on rare 
occasions. Charles X. loved him as a friend of his 
childhood, a companion of youth and exile, but he 
had a lively regret to see him entangled in such rela- 
tions with the Baroness of Feucheres. The advice 
he gave him many times to induce him to break this 
liaison was without result. Finally the King said : 
"Let us leave him alone; we only give him pain." 
He never went to Chantilly, in order not to sanc- 
tion by his royal presence the kind of existence led 
there by his old relation ; and the Prince knowing 
the sentiments of his sovereign, gave him but few 
invitations, which were always evaded under one 
pretext or another. 

People wondered at the time who would be the 
heirs of the immense fortune of the Condes, whose 
race was on the point of extinction. The Prince's 
mother was Charlotte-Elisabeth de Rohan-Soubise, 
and the Rohans thought themselves the natural heirs. 
But such a combination would not have met the 
views of Madame de Feucheres, who, not content 
with having got from the Prince very considerable 
donations, counted on figuring largely in his will. 

Nevertheless she was not without lively anxiety in 
that regard. The Rohans had refused all compromise 
with her. If they were disinherited, what would 
they say? Would they not attack the will on the 
ground of undue influence ? Such was the event- 



88 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

uality against which the prudent Baroness intended 
to guard herself. In consequence she conceived the 
bold project of sheltering her own wealth under the 
patronage of some member of the royal family, in 
having him receive the fortune of the old Prince 
under a will which at the same time should conse- 
crate the part to be received by her, and put it beyond 
all contest. She would have wished the old Prince 
to choose his heir in the elder branch of the House 
of Bourbon. But the Duchess of Berry, who was 
disinterestedness itself, declined any arrangement of 
that nature. To the insinuations made to her in 
favor of her son, she responded : — 

" Henri will be King. The King of France needs 
nothing." 

She did more. It is said that to the persons who 
bore these advances to her, she suggested the idea of 
having the heritage of the Cond^s pass to the family 
of the Duke of Orleans. But the thing was not 
easy. It is true that the children of the Duke were, 
by their mother, Bathilde d' Orleans, nephews of the 
wife of the Duke of Bourbon. But this Prince had 
led a bad life with his wife, from whom he had sepa- 
rated immediately after the birth of the Duke d'En- 
ghien, and the souvenirs of the Revolution separated 
him widely from a family whose political ideas were 
not his. Yet the Duke and Duchess of Orleans were 
not discouraged. They entered on negotiations a 
long time in advance with the Baroness of Feucheres, 
who was in reality the arbiter of the situation. M. 



THE PRINCE OF CONBE 89 

Nettement relates that the first time that Marie- 
Am^lie pronounced the name of the Baroness in the 
presence of the Duchess of Angouleme, the daughter 
of Louis XVI. said to her: "What! you have seen 
that woman!" The Duchess of Orleans responded: 
" What would you have ? I am a mother. I have 
a numerous family; I must think before all of the 
interests of my children." 

What is certain is that the Prince was induced to 
be the godfather of the Duke d'Aumale, born the 6th 
of January, 1822, and that was a sort of prelude to 
the will of 1830. 



THE COUET 

nVTOW let us tlirow a general glance over the 
-L^ court of tlie King, Charles X., in 1825, the 
year of the consecration. 

The civil household of the King comprised six 
distinct services : those of Grand Almoner of France, 
of the Grand Master of France, of the Grand Cham- 
berlain of France, of the Grand Equerry of France, 
of the Grand Huntsman of France, and of the Grand 
Master of Ceremonies of France. 

The Grand Almoner was the Cardinal, Prince of 
Croy, Archbishop of Rowen ; the First Almoner, Mgr. 
Frayssinous, Bishop of Hermopolis; the confessor of 
the King, the Abb^ Jocard. Charles X., this mon- 
arch, surrounded by great lords, knelt before a ple- 
beian priest and demanded absolution for his sins. 
There were, besides, in the service of the Grand 
Almoner of France, eight almoners, eight chaplains, 
and eight pupils of the chapel, serving in turns of 
four. 

The function of the Grand Master of France had 
as titulary the Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Cond^. 
But this Prince performed his duties only in very 



THE COURT 91 



rare and solemn circumstances. In fact, the service 
of the Grand Master of France was directed by the 
First Steward, the Count of Cosse-Brissac. There 
were besides four chamberlains of the House, the 
Count de Rothe, the Marquis of Mondragon, the 
Count Mesnard de Chousy, the Viscount Hocquart, 
and several stewards. 

The Grand Chamberlain of France was the Prince 
de Talleyrand. He discharged his functions only 
on solemn occasions, such as the funeral of Louis 
XVIII. and the consecration of Charles X. and the 
arrival of the Duchess of Berry. In fact, the service 
of the Grand Chamberlain of France was directed by 
one of the first gentlemen of the chamber. They 
were four in number, — the Duke d'Aumont, the 
Duke of Duras, the Duke of Blacas, the Duke Charles 
de Damas, — and perform-ed their functions in turn 
a year each. Every four years the King designated 
those who were to serve during each of the following 
four years. Thus, the Royal Almanac of 1825 has 
this notice : — 

First gentlemen of the chamber: 1825, the Duke 
d'Aumont; 1826, the Duke of Duras; 182T, the 
Duke of Blacas ; 1828, Count de Damas (afterwards 
Duke). 

The first chamberlains, masters of the wardrobe, 
were five in number: the Marquis de Boisgelin, the 
Count de Pradel, the Count Curial, the Marquis 
d'Avaray, the Duke d'Avaray. There were besides 
thirty-two gentlemen of the chamber, without count- 



92 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

ing those that were honorary. To this same service 
belonged the readers, the first valets-de-chambre, the 
ushers of the chamber, the musicians of the chamber, 
those of the chapel and the service of the faculty. 
The entrees, a matter so important in the ceremo- 
nies of courts, were also attached to this service. 

By virtue of royal regulations of November 1st, 
December 31st, 1820, and January 23d, 1821, the 
entrSes at the Chateau of the Tuileries were es- 
tablished as follows: They were divided in six 
classes : the grand entrees, the first entrSes of the Cab- 
inet, the entrSes of the Cabinet, those of the Hall 
of the Throne, those of the first salon preceding the 
Hall of the Throne, and last, those of the second 
salon. 

The grand entrees gave the privilege of entering 
at any time the sleeping-room of the King. They 
belonged to the Grand Chamberlain, to the first 
chamberlains — masters of the wardrobe. Next came 
the first entrSes of the Cabinet (this was the name of 
the hall which, during the reign of Napoleon III., 
was designated as the Salon de Louis XIV., because 
it contained a Gobelins tapestry representing the 
Ambassadors of Spain received by the King). Per- 
sons who have the first entrSes of the Cabinet have 
the right to enter there at any time in order to have 
themselves announced to the King, and there to 
await permission to enter the main apartment. 
These first entrSes of the .Cabinet belong to those 
who have to take the orders of the sovereign — to 



THE COURT 93 



the grand officers of his civil and military house- 
holds, or, in their absence, to the first officer of each 
service, to the major-general of the royal guard on 
service, to the Grand Chancellor, to the minister- 
secretaries of State, to the Grand Chancellor of the 
Legion of Honor, to the captains of the King's body- 
guard, to the Grand Quartermaster. 

Next come the entries of the Cabinet (which must 
not be confused with the first entrees of the Cabinet). 
These give to persons enjoying them the right to 
enter that room usually a little before the hour fixed 
by the King to hear Mass, and to remain there at will 
during the day, up to the hour of the evening when 
the sovereign gives out the watchword. They belong 
to the grand officers and to the first officers of the 
civil and military households of the King, to the 
major-generals of the royal guard and the lieutenant- 
general in service, to the cardinals, to the Chancellor 
of France, to the minister-secretaries of State, to the 
Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, to the 
marshals of France, to the Grand Referendary of 
the Chamber of Peers, to the President of the Cham- 
ber of Deputies, and to all the officers of the King's 
household on service. 

The persons and functionaries civil or military 
with a lower rank in the hierarchy of the court have 
their entries, some to the Hall of the Throne, others 
to the first salon preceding the Hall of the Throne 
(the Salon d'Apollon under Napoleon III.), and still 
others to the second salon (communicating with the 



94 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

Hall of the Marshals, and called, wnder Napoleon 
III., the Salon of the First Consul). 

The collective audience given to all having their 
entries was called the public audience of the King. 
It took place when the King went to hear Mass in 
his chapel, only on his return to re-enter his inner 
apartment. Followed by all his grand officers and 
his first officers in service, Charles X. passed to 
and paused in each of the rooms in his outer apart- 
ment, in order to allow those having the right to be 
there to pay their court to him. When he attended 
Mass in his inner apartment, he gave a public au- 
dience only after that ceremony. He paused in his 
Grand Cabinet, then in the Hall of the Throne, and 
successively in the other rooms. 

When the King was ready to receive, the First 
Gentleman of the Chamber gave notice to the grand 
officers and the first officers that they might present 
themselves. Moreover, he placed before the King the 
list of persons having entries to his apartments or to 
whom he had accorded them. On this list Charles 
X. indicated those he wished invited. 

There was no titular Grand Equerry of France. 
The First Equerry, charged with the saddle-horses 
of the King, was the Duke of Polignac, major- 
general. The two equerries-commandant were the 
Marquis of Vernon and Count O'Hdgerthy, major- 
general. There were, besides, four equerries, mas- 
ters of the horse, three each quarter, namely: for the 
January quarter the Chevalier de Riviere, major- 



THE COURT 95 



general; the Count Defrance, lieutenant-general; 
the Baron Dujon, major-general; — for the April 
quarter, the Colonel Viscount de Bongars; the Baron 
Vincent, major-general; the Viscount Domon, lieu- 
tenant-general; — for the July quarter, the Colonel 
Marquis de Martel, the Viscount Vansay, the Count 
Frederic de Bongars; — for the October quarter, the 
Count de Fezensac, major-general; the Colonel Mar- 
quis Oudinot, the Colonel Marquis de Chabannes. 
The chief Equerries of the stable were the Viscount 
d'Abzac and the Chevalier d'Abzac, both colonels. 
There were, besides, the equerries in ordinary and 
the pupil-equerries. The pages belonged to the ser- 
vice of the Grand Equerry of France. 

The Grand Huntsman was the Marshal Marquis of 
Lauriston, and the First Huntsman, the Lieutenant- 
General Count de Girardin. There were also hunts- 
men for the hunting-courses and huntsmen for the 
gunning-hunts of the King. 

The Grand Master of Ceremonies was the Marquis 
of Dreux-Br^z^, and the Master of Ceremonies the 
Marquis of Rochemore, major-general. There were, 
besides, the aides, a king-at-arms and heralds-at- 
arms. 

All the civil household of the King worked with 
the greatest regularity. Etiquette, carefully ob- 
served, though stripped of the ancient minutiae, re- 
called the old usages of the French monarchy. All 
that had been suppressed was what was puerile and 
weariness for the courtiers and for the King himself. 



96 THE DUCHESS OF BERBT 

The military household of the King was a group 
of chosen troops. The horse body-guards comprised 
five companies, each bearing the name of its chief. 
The Duke d'Hayr^ et de Croy, the Duke of Gramont, 
the Prince of Poix, Duke de Mouchy, the Duke of 
Luxembourg, the Marquis de Riviere. The chiefs 
of these companies, all five lieutenants-general, were 
entitled captains of the guard. There was, besides, 
a company of foot-guards in ordinary to the King, 
whose chief, the Duke of Mortemart, major-general, 
had the title of captain-colonel, and whose officers 
were some French, some Swiss. There was a Chief 
Quartermaster, the Lieutenant-General Marquis de 
La Suze. 

The royal guard, composed of two divisions of in- 
fantry, two divisions of cavalry, and a regiment of 
artillery, was under the command of four marshals 
of France, Victor, Duke de Bellune; Macdonald, 
Duke de Tarente; Oudinot, Duke de Reggio; Mar- 
mont, Duke de Raguse, all four of whom had the 
title of major-general. 

The body-guards, the Swiss, the royal guard, were 
the admiration of all connoisseurs. The Emperor 
Napoleon never had had troops better disciplined, of 
better bearing, clad in finer uniforms, animated by a 
better spirit. 

To the household of the King must be added those 
of the Dauphin, the Dauphiness, and the Duchess of 
Berry. The Dauphin had as first gentlemen, the 
Duke of Damas and the Duke of Guiche, both lieu- 



THE COURT 97 



tenants-general; for gentlemen, the Count d'Escars 
and the Baron of Damas, lieutenants-general; the 
Count Melchior de Polignac, major-general ; the Vis- 
count de Saint Priest, and the Count de Bordesoulle, 
lieutenants-general; the Count d' Osmond, lieuten- 
ant-colonel. For aides-de-camp, the Baron de Beur- 
nonville and the Count de Laroche-Fontenille, 
major-generals; the Viscount of Champagny, the 
Count of Montcalm, and the Baron Lecouteulx de 
Canteleu, colonels ; the Viscount de Lahitte, and the 
Duke de Ventadour, lieutenant-colonels; the Count 
de La Rochefoucauld, chief of battalion. 

The household of the Dauphiness was composed 
as follows: a First Almoner, the Cardinal de La 
Fare, Archbishop of Sens, with two almoners serving 
semiannually, and a chaplain; a lady-of-honor, the 
Duchess of Damas-Cruz ; a lady of the bed chamber, 
the Viscountess d'Agoult; seven lad}^ companions, 
the Countess of B^arn, the Marchioness of Biron, the 
Marchioness of Sainte-Maure, the Viscountess of 
Vaudreuil, the Countess of Goyon, the Marchioness 
de Roug^, the Countess of Villefranche ; two gentle- 
men-in-waiting, the Marquis of Vibraye and the 
Duke Mathieu de Montmorency, major-general; a 
First Equerry, the Viscount d'Agoult, lieutenant- 
general, and two equerries, the Chevalier de Beaune 
and M. O'Hegerthy. 

We shall devote a special chapter to the household 
of the Duchess of Berry. 

The Count Alexandre de Puymaigre has left in 



98 THE BUCHESS OF BERRY 

his Souvenirs an account of the manner in which the 
court employed the two weeks passed at Compi^gne 
in the month of October of each year. At 8 A.M., 
the King heard Mass, where attendance was very 
exact except when the King omitted to come, when 
no one came. At nine o'clock they set out for the 
hunt, almost always with guns. One hundred to one 
hundred and fifty hussars or chasseurs of the guard in 
garrison at Compi^gne beat the field, marching in 
line of battle, with the King in the middle : he had 
at his right the Dauphin, at his left a captain of the 
guards, or such person of the court as he was pleased 
to designate. These were the three who alone had 
the right to fire. 

Behind the sovereign, apart from some persons 
connected with the service of the hunt, came a master 
of the horse, the first huntsman, and some persons 
admitted to the hunt. The King, who used a flint- 
lock gun, was a very good marksman. About five 
or six in the evening he returned to the Chateau. 
The people of the court were gathered on the steps, 
awaiting him. He usually addressed some affable 
words to them, and then went to dress in order to be 
in the salon at seven o'clock. 

The captain of the guards, the first gentleman, the 
first huntsman, the ladies and gentlemen in waiting 
of the princesses, the masters of the horse, the colonel 
of the guard, dined with the King. The dinner was 
choice, without being too sumptuous, but the wines 
were not of the first order. The company remained at 



THE COURT 99 



the table an hour, and each talked freely with his or 
her neighbor, except those by the side of the Dauphin 
or a Princess. There was music during the repast, 
and the public was admitted to circulate about the 
table. The royal family liked the attendance of 
spectators to be considerable. Thus care was taken 
to give out a number of cards, in order that the prom- 
enade about the table during the second service 
should be continuous. Often the princesses spoke to 
the women of their acquaintance and gave candy to 
the children passing behind them. 

After the coffee, which was taken at table, Charles 
X. and his guests traversed the Gallery of Mirrors, 
leading to the salon between two lines of spectators 
eager to see the royal family. The King next played 
billiards while a game of ^cart^ was started. The 
agents for the preservation of the forests and the 
pages of the hunt remained by the door, inside, 
without being permitted to advance into the salon, 
which was occupied only by persons who had dined 
with the King. 

After having had his game of billiards and left 
his place for other players, Charles, X. took a hand 
at whist, while the ^cart^ went on steadily until, 
toward ten o'clock, the King retired. He was fol- 
lowed to his sleeping-room, where he gave the watch- 
word to the captain of the body-guards, and indicated 
the hour of the meet for the next day. 

"Sometimes we then returned to the salon," adds 
the Count of Puymaigre, who, in virtue of his office 



100 TEE DUCHESS OF BERBT 

as Prefect of tlie Oise, dined with the King, as well as 
the Bishop of Beauvais and the general commanding 
the sub-division. "M. de Coss^-Brisac, the first 
steward, had punch served, and we continued the 
dearth till midnight or one o'clock, when we could 
play more liberally, the Dauphiness having limited 
the stakes to five francs. The Duchess of Berry 
was less scrupulous. After the withdrawal of the 
princes we were glad to be more at ease; the talk 
became gay and even licentious, and I will say here 
that all the men of the court whom I have seen near 
the King, far from being what could be called devout 
or hypocritical, as was believed in the provinces, 
were anything but that; that they no more con- 
cealed their indifference in religious matters than 
they did their diversity of political opinions, royalist 
doubtless, but of divers grades ; that no one was more 
tolerant than the King; finally, that if an occult 
power, the existence of which I do not deny, but the 
force of which has been exaggerated, acted on the 
mind of the King, it had not its seat in what was 
called the court." 

Charles X. was deeply religious, a fervent believer, 
sincerely Christian, and this Prince who but for his 
great piety might perhaps have given excuse for 
scandal, led a life without reproach. But as indul- 
gent for others as he was severe to himself, he forced 
no one to imitate his virtues, and his palaces were in. 
no way like convents. As was said by the Duke 
Ambroise de Doudeauville, for three years the minis- 



THE COURT 101 



ter of the King's liouseliold, "liis religion, despite 
all the stupid things said of it, was very frank, very 
real, and very well understood." 

Karely has a sovereign given such a good example 
to those about him. No mistresses, no favorites, 
no scandal, no ruinous expenditures, no excess of 
luxury; a gentle piety, extreme affability, perfect 
courtesy, a constant desire to render France happy 
and glorious. The appearance of Charles X. was that 
of a fine old man, gracious, healthy, amiable, and 
respected. Persons of plebeian origin at his court 
were treated by him with as much politeness and at- 
tention as the chiefs of the ancient houses of France. 
His manners were essentially aristocratic, but with- 
out arrogance or pretension. Full of goodness 
toward his courtiers and his servitors, he won the 
love of all who approached him. His tastes were 
simple, and personally he required no luxury. Ha- 
bituated during the Emigration to go without many 
things, he never thought of lavish expenditure, of 
building palaces or furnishing his residences richly. 
"Never did a king so love his people," says the 
Duke Ambroise de Doudeauville, "never did a king 
carry self-abnegation so far. I urged him one day 
to allow his sleeping-room to be furnished. He re- 
fused. I insisted, telling him that it was in a 
shocking condition of neglect. 

"'If it is for me,' he replied with vivacity, 'no; if 
it is for the sake of the manufactures, yes. ' 

"It was the same in everything. He had no 



102 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

whims and never listened to a proposition by which 
he alone was to profit. He joined to these essential 
qualities, manners that were wholly French, and 
mots that often recalled Henry IV. We were always 
saying to each other, my colleagues and I, ' If a king 
were made to order for France, he would not be dif- 
ferent.' What a misfortune for France, which he 
loved so much, that he was not known better and 
more appreciated. This portrait, I protest, is in no- 
wise flattering ; if this poor Prince were still reign- 
ing, I would not say so much of him, above all in 
his presence; but he is persecuted and is an exile; 
I owe my country the truth, nothing but the truth." 

Let us add to the honor of Charles X. that he made 
of his personal fortune and his civil list the noblest 
and most liberal use. 

"On the throne," says the Viscount Sosthene^ de 
La Rochefoucauld, "he was generous to excess. In 
his noble improvidence of the future, he considered 
his civil list as a sort of loan, made by the nation for 
the sake of its grandeur, to be returned in luxury, 
magnificence, and benefits. A faithful depositary, 
he made it a duty to use it all, so that, stripped of 
his property, he carried into exile hardly enough for 
the support of his family and some old servitors." 

To sum up, all who figured at the court of Charles 
X. agree in recognizing that he was not a superior 
man, but a prince, chivalrous and sympathetic, 
honest and of good intentions, who committed grave 
errors, but did not deserve his misfortunes. In his 



THE COURT 103 



appearance, in liis physiognomy, in thought and lan- 
guage, there was a mingling of grace and dignity of 
which even his adversaries felt the charm. If pos- 
terity is severe for the sovereign, it will be indulgent 
for the man. 



XI 

THE DUKE OF DOUDEAUVILLE 

AT the time of tlie consecration of Charles X., 
the minister of the King's household was the 
Duke Ambroise de Doudeauville, father of the Vis- 
count Sosthenes de La Rochefoucauld. A philan- 
thropic nobleman, devoted to the throne, the altar, 
the Charter, and to liberty, respectful for the past but 
thoughtful for the future, joining intelligent tolera- 
tion to sincere piety, faithful servitor but no courtier 
to the King, the Duke of Doudeauville enjoyed the 
esteem of all and had at court a high standing, due 
even more to his character than to his birth. The 
volume of Memoirs that he has left does honor to his 
heart as well as to his mind. There is grace and 
gaiety, depth and charm, wisdom and courage, in this 
short but substantial book, where appears in full 
light one of the most distinct types of the ancient 
French society. " My years of grandeur and splen- 
dor," this author wrote, "have passed like a dream, 
and I have beheld the awakening with pleasure. I 
know not what my destiny shall be. As to my con- 
duct, I believe that I can affirm that it will be al- 
ways that of an honest man, a good Frenchman, a 
104 



THE DUKE OF BOUDEAUVILLE 105 

servant of God, desiring a Christian close to an hon- 
orable life, the crown of every human edifice." 

The details given by the Duke of Doudeauville as 
to his early years are very characteristic. He was 
born in 1765. He was entrusted to the care of a 
nurse living two leagues from Paris in a little vil- 
lage, the wife of a post-rider. His parents, when 
they came to see him, found " their eighteen-months- 
old progeny astride of one of the horses of his foster- 
father." Like Henry IV., he was raised roughly, 
leading the life of a real peasant, running the day 
long, in sabots, through the snow and ice and mud. 
"My nurse, who was retained as maid," he says, 
"was a good peasant, and thoroughly proletarian. 
Afterwards, transferred to the capital, she there pre- 
served with her simple cap her frank and rustic man- 
ners, to the admiration of all who knew her, and 
esteemed her loyal character and her plain ways. It 
is to her, and to her alone, that I am indebted for 
receiving any religious instruction either in infancy 
or youth. Everything about me was wholly foreign 
to those ideas ; my religion was none the less fervent 
for that. From my earliest years, being born brave, 
I felt the vocation of the martyr the most desirable 
means of being joined to our Father which is in 
Heaven, and I have always thought that to end 
one's days for one's God, one's wife and family, was 
a touching and enviable death." 

The Duke of Doudeauville was still a child, and 
a little child — in point of age he was fourteen and 



106 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 



a day, in size lie was four feet seven inches — when 
he was married. He espoused Mademoiselle de 
Montmirail, of the family of Louvois, who brought 
him, with a beauty he did not then prize, a consid- 
erable fortune, the rank of grandee of Spain, and, 
worth more than all, rare and precious qualities. 
Nevertheless, the little husband was very sad. When 
his approaching marriage was announced to him, he 
cried out, "Then I can play no longer!" When, 
after the first interview, he was asked how he liked 
his fiancSe^ whose fresh face, oval and full, was 
charming, he responded : " She is really very beauti- 
ful; she looks like me when I am eating plums." 
Listen to his story of the nuptials. "Imagine my 
extreme embarrassment," he says, "my stupid disap- 
pointment, with my excessive bashfulness amid the 
numerous concourse of visitors and spectators at- 
tracted by our wedding. The grandfather of Made- 
moiselle de Montmirail, being captain of the Hun- 
dred-Swiss, a great part of this corps was there, and, 
as if to play me a trick, all these Hundred-Swiss 
were six feet tall, sometimes more. One would have 
said, seeing me by the side of them, the giants and 
the dwarf of the fair. Every one gazed at the bride, 
who, although she was only fifteen, was as tall as she 
was beautiful, and every one was looking for the 
bridegroom, without suspecting that it was this child, 
this schoolboy, who was to play the part." 

Is it not amusing, this picture of a marriage under 
the old regime? The little groom was so dis- 



THE BUKE OF DOUDEAUVILLE 107 

turbed when he went to the chapel and during the 
ceremony, that, though his memory was excellent, 
he never could recall what passed at that time. "I 
only remember," he says, "the sound of the drums 
that were beating during our passage, and cheered 
me a little ; it was the one moment of the day that 
was to my taste. How long that day seemed! You 
may imagine it was not from the motives common in 
like cases, but because I drew all glances upon me, 
and all vied in laughing at and joking me, pointing 
their fingers at me." 

The day ended with a grand repast that lasted two 
or three hours. A crowd of strangers strolled around 
the table all the while. Although the precaution had 
been taken to put an enormous cushion on the chair 
of the husband, his chin hardly came above the 
table. Seated by the side of his young wife, he did 
not dare look at her. For days beforehand he had 
been wondering if he should always be afraid of her. 

"After this solemn banquet," he adds, "came the 
soiree, which did not seem any more amusing ; after 
the soiree the return to my parents' home was no 
more diverting; nevertheless, it was made in the 
company of my dear spouse, who henceforth was to 
dwell at my father's house. They bundled me into 
a wretched cabriolet with my preceptor, and sent me 
to finish my education at Versailles, and to learn to 
ride at the riding-school of the pages." 

We must note that the marriage thus begun was 
afterwards a very happy union, and that there was 



108 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

never a pair more virtuous and more attached to each 
other than the Duke and Duchess of Doudeauville. 

In 1789, the Duke was major of the Second Regi- 
ment of Chasseurs. He emigrated, though the Emi- 
gration was not at all to his liking. " This measure," 
he said, " appeared to me in every way unreasonable, 
and yet, to my great chagrin, I was forced to submit 
to it. The person of the King was menaced, right- 
thinking people compromised, the tranquillity and 
prosperity of France lost; they were arming abroad, 
it was said, to provide a remedy for these evils. The 
nobles hastened hither. Distaffs were sent to all who 
refused to rally on the banks of the Rhine. How, at 
twenty-five, could one resist this tide of opinion?" 
When he perceived, in the foreign powers, the design 
of profiting by the discords in France instead of 
putting an end to them, he laid aside his arms, and 
never resumed them during the eight years of the 
Emigration. "This resolve," he said, "was consist- 
ent v/ith my principles. Always a good Frenchman, 
I desired only the good of my country, the happiness 
of my fellow-countrymen; my whole life, I hope, 
has been a proof of this view. All my actions have 
tended to this end." 

During his eight years of emigration, the Duke of 
Doudeauville was constantly a prey to anxiety, grief, 
poverty, trials of every kind. Thirteen of his rela- 
tives were put to death under the Terror. His wife 
was imprisoned, and escaped the scaffold only through 
the 9th Thermidor. He himself, having visited 



THE DUKE OF DOUDEAUVILLE 109 



France clandestinely several times, ran the greatest 
risks. In the midst of such sufferings his sole sup- 
port was the assistance of a devoted servant. " At 
the moment that I write these lines," he says in his 
Memoirs, " I am about to lose my domestic Raphael, 
the excellent man who, for fifty years, has given me 
such proofs of fidelity, disinterestedness, and deli- 
cacy; I have treated him as a friend; I shall grieve 
for him as for a brother." 

Misfortune had fortified the character of the Duke 
of Doudeauville. Unlike other emigres, he had 
learned much and forgotten nothing. His attitude 
under the Consulate and the Empire was that of a 
true patriot. Without joining the Opposition, he 
wished no favor. The sole function he accepted was 
that of councillor-general of the Department of the 
Marne, where he could be useful to his fellow-citi- 
zens without giving any one the right to accuse him 
of ambitious motives. Nothing would have been 
easier for him than to be named to one of the high 
posts in the court of Napoleon, whose defects he 
disapproved, but whose great qualities he admired. 
"Bonaparte," he said in his Memoirs, "had monarch- 
ical ideas and made much of the nobility, especially 
that which he called historic. I must confess, what- 
ever may be said, that the latter under his reign was 
more esteemed, respected, feted, than it has been 
since under Louis XVIII. or Charles X. The princes 
feared to excite toward it and toward themselves the 
envy of the bourgeois classes, who would have no 



110 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

supremacy but their own. Napoleon, on the con- 
trary, having frankly faced the difficulty, created a 
nobility of his own. Those who belonged to it, or 
hoped to, found it quite reasonable that they should 
be given as peers the descendants of the first houses 
of France," The Duchess of Doudeauville was a 
sister of the Countess of Montesquiou, who was gov- 
erness of the King of Rome, and whose husband 
had replaced the Prince de Talleyrand as Grand 
Chamberlain of the Emperor. Very intimate with 
the Count and Countess, the Duke of Doudeauville 
had some trouble in avoiding the favors of Napoleon, 
who held him in high esteem. He found a way to 
decline them without wounding the susceptibilities 
of the powerful sovereign. 

Under the Restoration, the Duke of Doudeauville 
distinguished himself by an honest liberalism, loyal 
and intelligent, with nothing revolutionary in it, 
and by an enlightened philanthropy that won him 
the respect of all parties. When he was named as 
director of the post-office in 1822, many people of his 
circle blamed him for taking a place beneath him. 
"Congratulate me," he said, laughing, "that I have 
not been offered that of postman ; I should have taken 
it just the same if I had thought I could be useful." 
And he added : " It was thought that it would be a 
sinecure for me. Far from that, I gave myself up 
wholly to my new employment, and I worked so hard 
at it, than in less than a year my eyes, previously 
excellent, were almost ruined. I always occupied 



THE DUKE OF BOUBEATJVILLE 111 

fifteen or twenty places, each more gratuitous than 
the others. To make the religion that I practise be- 
loved and to serve my neighbor, has always seemed 
to me the best way to serve God. So I believe that 
I can say without fear of contradiction that I have 
never done any one harm, and that I have always 
tried to do all the good possible." 

In the month of August, 1824, the Duke of Dou- 
deauville was named minister of the King's house- 
hold. In this post he showed administrative qualities 
of a high order. In April, 1827, not wishing to share 
in a measure that he regarded as both inappropriate 
and unpopular, the disbanding of the Parisian Na- 
tional Guard, he gave in his resignation. " I did not 
wish," he said, "to join the Opposition. The popu- 
larity given me by my resignation would have assured 
me a prominent place, but this r61e agreed neither 
w^ith my character nor with my antecedents. I re- 
solved on absolute silence and complete obscurity; I 
even avoided showing myself in Paris, where I knew 
that manifestations of satisfaction and gratitude 
would be given to me." King Louis Philippe said 
one day to Marshal Gerard : " Had they listened to 
the Duke of Doudeauville, and not broken up the 
National Guard of Paris, the revolution would not 
have taken place." 

The great lord, good citizen, and good Christian, 
who, at periods most disturbed by changes of regime, 
had always been as firm in the application of his 
principles as he was moderate in his actions and gen- 



112 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

tie in his method, made himself as much respected 
under Louis Philippe as under the Restoration. 
During the cholera, he set the example of absolute 
devotion and was constantly in the hospitals. He 
continued to sit in the Chamber of Peers until the 
close of the trial of the Ministers, in the hope of 
saving the servitors of Charles X. But when Louis 
Philippe quitted the Palais Royal to install himself 
at the Tuileries, he resigned as Peer of France. He 
no longer wished to reappear at the Chateau where 
he had seen Louis XVIII. and Charles X., and in a 
letter to the Queen Marie-Am^lie, who had a real 
veneration for him, he wrote : " My presence at the 
Tuileries would be out of place, and even the new 
hosts of that palace would be astonished at it." The 
Duke of Doudeauville, who died at a great age, in 
1841, devoted his last years to good works, to char- 
ity, to the benevolent establishments of which he 
was the president. One day at the H6tel de Ville, 
he drew applause from an assembly far from relig- 
ious, by the words we are about to cite, because they 
discovered in them his whole mind and heart: "A 
husband would like a wife reserved, economical, a 
good housekeeper, an excellent mother for his fam- 
ily, charming, eager to please him — him only, adorn- 
ing herself with virtue, the one ornament that is 
never ruinous, having great gentleness for him, 
great strength as against all others; he would wish, 
in fine, a perfect wife. I should like to believe 
that there are many such, especially among my lis' 



THE BUEE OF DOUDEAUVILLE 113 

teners, but I should think it a miracle if one of 
them united all these qualities without having 
the principles of religion. A woman, pretty, witty, 
agreeable, would like her husband to think she was 
so, that he should be as amiable for her, or almost, 
as for those he saw for the first time ; that he should 
not keep his ill humor and his brusqueness for his 
home and lavish his care and attention on society; 
that he should forget sometimes that he is a master, 
— in some ways a despotic master, — despite the lib- 
eralism of the century and the progress of philoso- 
phy ; that he should be willing to be a friend, even 
if he ceased to be a lover; finally, that he should not 
seek from others what he will more surely find at 
home. Let this tender wife invoke religion, let her 
cause her husband to love it, let her win him to it ; 
she will get what she hopes for and thank me for the 
recipe." 

Our lady readers will thank us, we hope, for hav- 
ing spoken of a man who gives them such good 
advice ; and it is with pleasure that we have taken 
the occasion to render homage to the memory of a 
great lord, who doubly deserved the title, by the ele- 
vation of his ideas and the nobility of his sentiments. 
Such men — alas ! they are rare — would have saved 
the Restoration if the Restoration could have been 
saved. 



XII 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE DUCHESS OP BEERY 

WE shall now, commencing with the ladies, 
throw a rapid glance over the persons who, 
at the time of the consecration, formed the household 
of the Duchess of Berry. The Princess had one lady 
of honor, one lady of the bedchamher, and eleven 
lady companions, of whom three were honorary. All 
were distinguished as much by their manners and 
sentiments as by birth and education. 

The lady of honor was the Mar^chale Oudinot, 
Duchess of Reggio, a lady of the highest rank, who 
joined a large heart to a firm mind. Attached, 
through her family, to the religious and monarchical 
principles of the old regime, by her marriage to the 
glories of the imperial epic, she represented at the 
court the ideas of pacification and fusion that inspired 
the policy of Louis XVIII. Born in 1791, of Antoine 
de Coucy, captain in the regiment of Artois, and of 
Gabrielle de Mersuay, she was but two years old when 
her father and mother were thrown into the dungeons 
of the Terror. Carried in the arms of a faithful 
serving- woman, she visited the two prisoners, who 
escaped death. She married one of Napoleon's most 
114 



HEE HOUSEHOLD 115 

illustrious companions in arms, the "modern Bay- 
ard," as he was called, the Marshal Oudinot, Duke of 
Reggio, who had received thirty-two wounds on the 
field of battle, and who, by securing the passage of 
Beresina, deserved to be called the "saviour of the 
army." He was wounded at the close of the Rus- 
sian campaign. Then his young wife crossed all 
Europe to go and care for him and saved him. She 
was but twenty. She was only twenty-four when 
Louis XVIII. named her lady of honor to the Duch- 
ess of Berry. Despite her extreme youth, she filled 
her delicate functions with exquisite tact and preco- 
cious wisdom, and from the first exercised a happy 
influence over the mind of the Princess, who gladly 
listened to her counsels. Yery active in work, the 
lady of honor busied herself with untiring zeal with 
the details of her charge. She was the directress, 
the secretary, the factotum, of the Duchess of Berry. 
The Abbd Tripled, who pronounced her funeral 
eulogy at Bar-le-Duc, May 21st, 1868, traced a very 
lifelike portrait of her. Let us hear the ecclesiastic 
witness of the high virtues of this truly superior 
woman. 

"She bore," he said, "with equal force and sagac- 
ity her titles of lady of honor and Duchess of Reggio. 
Proud of her Mason, where were crossed the arms of 
the old and of the new nobility, and where she saw, 
as did the King, a sign, as it were, of reconciliation 
and peace, she bore it high and firm, and defended it 
in its new glories, against insulting attacks. An 



116 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

ornament to the court, by her graces and her high 
distinction, she displayed there, for the cause of the 
good, all the resources of her mind and the riches of 
her heart. But none of the seductions and agitations 
she met there disturbed the limpidity of her pure 
soul. Malignity, itself at bay, was forced to recog- 
nize and avow that in the Duchess of Reggio no 
other stain could be found than the ink-stains she 
sometimes allowed her pen to make upon her finger. 
In her greatness, this noble woman saw, before all, 
the side of duty." 

In 1832, when the Duchess of Berry was impris- 
oned in the citadel of Blaye, her former lady of honor 
asked, without being able to obtain that favor, the 
privilege of sharing her captivit}^ The Duchess of 
Beggio to the last set an example of devotion and of 
all the virtues. She was so gracious and affable that 
one day some one remarked: "When the Duchess 
gives you advice, it seems as if she were asking a 
service of you." When the noble lady died, April 
18th, 1868, at Bar-le-Duc, where her good works and 
her intelligent charity had made her beloved, they 
wished to give her name to one of the streets of the 
city, and as they already had the Rue Oudinot and 
the Place Reggio, one of the streets was called the 
Rue de La Mardchale. 

The lady of the bedchamber of the Duchess of Berry 
and her lady companions all belonged to the old aris- 
tocracy. The Countess of Noailles, lady of the bed- 
chamber, a woman full of intelligence, and very 



HEE HOUSEHOLD 117 



beautiful, a motlier worthy of all praise, was the 
daughter of the Duke de Talleyrand, the niece of the 
Prince de Talleyrand, the wife of Count Just de 
Noailles, second son of the Prince of Poix. 

The Duchess of Berry had eight lady companions : 
the Countess of Bouille, the Countess d'Hautefort, 
the Marchioness of B^thisy, the Marchioness of 
Gourgues, the Countess of Casteja, the Countess of 
Rosanbo, the Marchioness of Podenas; and three 
whose title was honorary, the Marchioness of Lauris- 
ton, the Countess Charles de Gontaut, and the Coun- 
tess de La Rochejaquelein. 

The Countess of Bouille, who at the time of the 
coronation of Charles X. was about forty years old, 
was a Creole, very agreeable and much respected. 

The Countess d'Hautefort, nSe Maill^-Latour- 
Landry, forty-one years old, married to a colonel 
who belonged to the fourth company of the body- 
guards, was a woman of much intelligence, charm- 
ingly natural, and an excellent musician. She shared 
in 1832 the captivity of the Duchess of Berry. 

Very distinguished in manner and sentiment as in 
birth, the Marchioness Charles de B^thisy, married to 
a lieutenant-general and peer of France ; the Countess 
of Gourgues, nee Montboissier, married to a master 
of requests, a deputy; the Countess of Mefflay, a 
young and charming woman, daughter of the Coun- 
tess of Latour, whom the Duchess of Berry had as 
governess in the Two Sicilies, and wife of the Count 
Meffray, receiver-general of Gers; the Viscountess 



118 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

of Castdja, daughter of the Marquis of Bombelles, 
major-general, ambassador of Louis XYI. at Lisbon 
and Vienna, then priest. Canon of Breslau, Bishop 
of Amiens, First Almoner of the Duchess of Berry 
(he died in 1822, and one of his sons, Charles de 
Bombelles, married morganatically the Empress 
Marie-Louise, in 1833); the Countess of Rosanbo, 
daughter of the Count of Mesnard; the Marchioness 
of Podenas, wife of a lieutenant-colonel; the Mar- 
chioness of Lauriston, wife of the marshal, formerly 
lady of the palace to the Empress Josephine and the 
Empress Marie-Louise; the Countess Charles de 
Gontaut, whose husband was chamberlain of the 
Emperor, a very young and very pretty woman, 
remarkable for the vivacity of her mind; the Coun- 
tess de La Rochejaquelein, nee Duras, a very pious 
and very charitable woman, whose husband was a 
major-general. In fact, the circle around the Duch- 
ess of Berry was perfection. The greatest ladies of 
France were by her side, and the society of the Petit 
Chdteau, as the Pavilion de Marsan was called, was 
certainly fitted to give the tone to the principal salons 
of Paris. 

The Duchess of Berry had as chevalier d'honneur 
a great lord, very learned, known for his unchange- 
able devotion to royalty, the Duke de Sdvis (born in 
1755, died in 1830). The Duke, who emigrated and 
was wounded at Quiberon, held himself apart during 
the Empire, and published highly esteemed writings 
on finance, some Memoirs, and a Recueil de Souvenirs 



HEB ROCrSEHOLD H^ 



et Portraits, He was a peer of France and member 
of the French Academy. For adjunct to the cheva- 
lier d'honneur, the Duchess had the Count Emma- 
nuel de Brissac, one of the finest characters of the 
court, married to a Montmorency. 

Her first equerry was the Count Charles de Mes- 
nard, a Vend^an gentleman of proven devotion. 
The Count Charles de Mesnard was born at LuQon, 
in 1769, the same year as Napoleon, whose fellow- 
pupil he was at Brienne. -Belonging to one of those 
old houses of simple gentlemen who have the antiq- 
uity of the greatest races, he was son of a major- 
general who distinguished himself in the Seven 
Years War, and who at the close of the old regime 
was gentleman of the chamber of the Count of Pro- 
vence (Louis XYIIL), and captain of the Guards of 
the Gate of this Prince. He emigrated, and served 
in the ranks of the army of Cond^, with his older 
brother, the Count Edouard de Mesnard, married to 
Mademoiselle de Caumont-Laforce, daughter of the 
former governess of the children of the Count d'Ar- 
tois (Charles X.), and sister of the Countess of Balbi. 
The Count Edouard de Mesnard, having entered 
Paris secretly, was shot there as SmigrS, October 27th, 
1797, despite all the efforts of the wife of General 
Bonaparte to save him. When he was going to his 
death, his eyes met, on the boulevard, those of one of 
his friends, the Marquis of Galard, who had returned 
with him secretly. The condemned man had the 
presence of mind to seem not to recognize the passer- 



120 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

by, and the latter was saved, as lie liimself related 
with emotion sixty years afterward. 

At the commencement of the Empire, the Count 
Charles de Mesnard was living at London, where he 
was reduced to gaining his living by copying music, 
when the Emperor offered to restore his confiscated 
property if he would come to France and unite with 
the new regime. The Count of Mesnard preferred to 
remain in England near the Duke of Berry, who 
showed great affection for him. The Restoration 
compensated the faithful companion of exile. He 
was a peer of France and Charles X. treated him as 
a friend. He had married, during the Emigration, 
an English lady, Mrs. Sarah Mason, widow of Gen- 
eral Blondell, by whom he had a daughter, Agla^, 
who v/as named a lady companion to the Duchess of 
Berry, at the time of her marriage, in 1825, with the 
Count Ludovic de Rosanbo, and a son, Ferdinand, 
married in 1829, to Mademoiselle de Bellissen. 

The Princess had for equerrj^-de-main, the Vis- 
count d'Hanache; for honorary equerry, the Baron 
of Fontanes; for equerry porte-manteau, M. Gory. 
Her secretary of orders was the Marquis de Sas- 
senay, who bore, besides, the title of Administra- 
tor of the Finances and Treasurer of Madame. He 
had under his orders a controller-general, M. Michals, 
who was of such integrity and devotion that when, 
after the Revolution of July, he presented himself at 
Holyrood to give in his accounts to the Duchess of 
Berry, she made him a present of her portrait. 



HEB HOUSEHOLD 121 

There was not a private household in France where 
more order reigned than in that of Madame. The 
chief of each service, — the Duchess of Reggio, the 
Viscount Just de Noailles, the Count Emmanuel de 
Brissac, and the Count of Mesnard, presented his or 
her budget and arranged the expenditures in advance 
with the Princess. This budget being paid by twelfths 
before the 15th of the following month, she required 
to have submitted to her the receipts of the month 
past. This did not prevent Madame from being 
exceedingly generous. One day she learned that a 
poor woman had just brought three children into the 
world and knew not how to pay for three nurses, 
three layettes, three cradles. Instantly she wished 
to relieve her. But it was the end of the month; 
the money of all the services had been spent. 

"Lend me something," she said to the controller- 
general of her household; "you will trust me; no 
one will trust this unfortunate woman." 

As M. Nettement remarked: "The Duchess of 
Berry held it as a principle that princes should be 
like the sun which draws water from the streams 
only to return it in dew and rain. . She considered 
her civil list as the property of all, administered by 
her. She was to be seen at all expositions and in 
all the shops, buying whatever was offered that was 
most remarkable. Sometimes she kept these pur- 
chases, sometimes she sent them to her family at 
Naples, Vienna, Madrid, and her letters used warmly 
to recommend in foreign cities whatever was useful 



122 THE DUCHESS OF BEREY 

or beautiful in France. She was thus in every way 
the Providence of the arts, of industry, and com- 
merce." 

To sum up, the household of the Duchess of Berry 
worked to perfection, and Madame, always affable 
and good, inspired a profound devotion in all abo at 
her. 



XIII 

THE PEEPAEATIONS FOE THE CORONATION 

THE coronation of Louis XVI. took place the 
llth of June, 1775, and since that time there 
had been none. For Louis XYII. there was none 
but that of sorrow. Louis XVIII. had desired it 
eagerly, but he was not sufficiently strong or alert to 
bear the fatigue of a ceremony so long and compli- 
cated, and his infirmities would have been too evident 
beneath the vault of the ancient Cathedral of Rheims. 
An interval of fifty years — from 1775 to 1825 — 
separated the coronation of Louis XVI. from that of 
his brother Charles X. How many things had passed 
in that half-century, one of the most fruitful in 
vicissitudes and catastrophes, one of the strangest 
and most troubled of which history has preserved the 
memory I 

Chateaubriand, who, later, in his MSmoires d'' outre- 
tomhe, so full of sadness and bitterness, was to speak 
of the coronation in a tone of scepticism verging 
on raillery, celebrated at the accession of Charles, in 
almost epic language, the merits of this traditional 
solemnity without which a " Very Christian King " 
was not yet completely King. In his pamphlet, Le 

123 



124 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

roi est mort ! Vive le roi ! he conjured the new mon- 
arcL. to give to his crown this religious consecration. 
" Let us humbly supplicate Charles X. to imitate his 
ancestors," said the author of the Genie du Chris- 
tianisme. " Thirty-two sovereigns of the third race 
have received the royal unction, that is to say, all 
the sovereigns of that race except Jean l^r, who died 
four days after his birth, Louis XYIL, and Louis 
XVIII. , on whom royalty fell, on one in the Tower 
of the Temple, on the other in a foreign land. The 
words of Adalb^ron, Archbishop of Rheims, on the 
subject of the coronation of Hugh Capet, are still 
true to-day. 'The coronation of the King of the 
French,' he says, 'is a public interest and not a 
private affair, Puhlica sunt Ticec negotia, non privata. ' 
May Charles X. deign to weigh these words, applied 
to the author of his race ; in weeping for a brother, 
may he remember that he is King ! The Chambers 
or the Deputies of the Chambers whom he may sum- 
mon to Rheims in his suite, the magistrates who shall 
swell his cortege, the soldiers who shall surround his 
person, will feel the faith of religion and royalty 
strengthened in them by this imposing solemnity. 
Charles VII. created knights at his coronation ; the 
first Christian King of the French, at his received 
baptism with four thousand of his companions in 
arms. In the same way Charles X. will at his coro- 
nation create more than one knight of the cause of 
legitimacy, and more than one Frenchman will there 
receive the baptism of fidelity." 



THE PREPABATION FOR THE CORONATION 125 



Charles X. had no hesitation. This crowned rep- 
resentative of the union of the throne and the altar 
did not comprehend royalty without coronation. 
Not to receive the holy unction would have been for 
him a case of conscience, a sort of sacrilege. In open- 
ing the session of the Chambers in the Hall of the 
Guards at the Louvre, December 22d, 1824, he an- 
nounced, amid general approval, the grand solem- 
nity that was to take place at Rheims in the course 
of the following year. "I wish," he said, "the 
ceremony of my coronation to close the first ses- 
sion of my reign. You will attend, gentlemen, this 
august ceremony. There, prostrate at the foot of the 
same altar where Clovis received the holy unction, 
and in the presence of Him who judges peoples and 
kings, I shall renew the oath to maintain and to 
cause to be respected the institutions established by 
my brother; I shall thank Divine Providence for 
having deigned to use me to repair the last misfor- 
tunes of my people, and I shall pray Him to continue 
to protect this beautiful France that I am proud to 
govern." 

If Napoleon, amid sceptical soldiers, former con- 
ventionnels, and former regicides, had easily secured 
the adoption of the idea of his coronation at Notre- 
Dame, by so much the more easy was it for Charles 
X. to obtain the adoption, by royalist France, of the 
project of his coronation at Rheims. "The King 
saw in this act," said Lamartine, "a real sacrament 
for the crown, the people a ceremony that carried its 



126 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

imagination back to the pomps of the past, politicians 
a concession to the court of Rome, claiming the in- 
vestiture of kings, and a denial in fact of the prin- 
ciple, not formulated but latent since 1789, of the 
sovereignty of the people. But as a rule, there was 
no vehement discussion of an act generally con- 
sidered as belonging to the etiquette of royalty, 
without importance for or against the institutions of 
the country. It was the f^te of the accession to the 
throne — a luxury of the crown. The oaths to exter- 
minate heretics, formerly taken by the kings of 
France at their coronation, were modified in con- 
cert with the court of Rome and the bishops. For 
these was substituted the oath to govern according 
to the Charter. Thus it was in reality a new conse- 
cration of liberty as well as of the crown." The 
French love pomp, ceremonies, spectacles. The idea 
of a consecration was not displeasing to them, and 
with rare exceptions, the Voltaireans themselves re- 
frained from criticising the ceremony that was in the 
course of preparation. It soon became the subject of 
conversation on every side. 

Six millions voted by the two Chambers for the 
expenses of the coronation, at the time that the 
civil list was regulated at the beginning of the reign, 
permitted the repairs required by the Cathedral of 
Rheims to be begun in January, 1825. The arches 
that had sunken, or threatened to do so, were 
strengthened; the ancient sculptured decorations 
were restored; the windows were completed; the 



THE PBEPABATION FOR THE CORONATION 127 

fallen statues were raised. It was claimed that even 
the holy ampulla had been found, that miraculous 
oil, believed, according to the royal superstitions of 
former ages, to have been brought from heaven by a 
dove for the anointing of crowned heads. The Revo- 
lution thought that it had destroyed this relic for- 
ever. The 6th of October, 1793, a commissioner of 
the Convention, the representative of the people, 
Ruhl, had, in fact, publicly broken it on the pedestal 
of the statue of Louis XV. But it was related that 
faithful hands had succeeded in gathering some frag- 
ments of the phial as v/ell as some particles of the 
balm contained in it. The 25th of January, 1819, 
the Abbe Seraine, who in 1793 was cur^ of Saint- 
Remi of Rheims, made the following declaration : — 
" The 17th of October, 1793, M. Hourelle, then 
municipal officer and first warden of the parish of 
Saint-Remi, came to me and notified me, from the 
representative of the people, Ruhl, of the order to 
remit the reliquary containing the holy ampulla, to 
be broken. We resolved, M. Hourelle and I, since we 
could do no better, to take from the holy ampulla the 
greater part of the balm contained in it. We went 
to the Church of Saint-Remi ; I withdrew the reli- 
quary from the tomb of the saint, and bore it to the 
sacristy, where I opened it with the aid of small iron 
pincers. I found placed in the stomach of a dove of 
gold and gilded silver, covered with white enamel, 
having the beak and claws in red, the wings spread, 
a little phial of glass of reddish color about an inch 



128 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

and a half high corked with a piece of crimson 
damask. I examined this phial attentively in the 
light, and I perceived a great number of marks of a 
needle on the sides ; then I took from a crimson vel- 
vet bag, embroidered with fleurs-de-lis in gold, the 
needle used at the time of the consecration of our 
kings, to extract the particles of balm, dried and 
clinging to the glass. I detached as many as possi- 
ble, of which I took the larger part, and remitted 
the smaller to M. Hourelle." 

The particles thus preserved were given into the 
hands of the Archbishop of Rheims, who gathered 
them in a new reliquary. 

Sunday, the 22d of May, 1825, the day of the feast 
of the Pentecost, the Archbishop of Rheims assembled 
in a chapel of that city the metropolitan clergy, the 
principal authorities, and the persons who had con- 
tributed to the preservation of the particles . of the 
precious relic, in order to proceed, in their presence, 
to the transfusion of those particles into the holy 
chrism, to be enclosed in a new phial. A circum- 
stantial report of this ceremony was prepared in 
duplicate. 

" Thus," said the Moniteur^ May 26, " there remains 
no doubt that the holy oil that will flow on the fore- 
head of Charles X. in the solemnity of his consecra- 
tion, is the same as that which, since Clovis, has 
consecrated the French monarchs." 

The day of the consecration approached. The 
Mayor of Rheims, M. Ruinard de Brimont, had not 



THE PREPARATION FOR THE CORONATION 129 

a moment's rest. At the consecration of Louis XV., 
about four hundred lodgings had been marked with 
chalk. For that of Charles X. there were sixteen 
hundred, and those who placed them at the service 
of the administration asked no compensation. The 
19th of May was begun the placing of the exterior 
decorations on the wooden porch erected in front of 
the door of the basilica. It harmonized so completely 
with the plan of the edifice that "at thirty toises,^^ it 
seemed a part of the edifice. The centrings and the 
interior portieres of this porch presented to the view 
a canopy sown with fleurs-de-lis in the midst of which 
stood out the royal cipher and the crown of France, 
modelled in antique fashion. These decorations were 
continued from the portal along the beautiful gallery 
that led to the palace. The palace itself, whose 
apartments had been adorned and furnished with 
royal magnificence, was entered by a very elegant 
porch. The grand feasting-hall, with its Gothic 
architecture, its colored glass, its high chimney-piece 
covered with escutcheons and surmounted by a statue 
of Saint-Remi, its portraits of all the kings of France, 
was resplendent. Three tables were to be set in the 
royal feasting-hall, — that of the King, that of the 
Dauphiness, and that of the Duchess of Berry. A 
gallery enclosed in glass, where there was a table of 
one hundred and thirty covers, had been built as by 
enchantment. On leaving the feasting-hall, one en- 
tered the covered gallery, which, by a gentle incline, 
led to the Cathedral. This gallery was formed of 



130 TEE DUCHESS OF BEERY 

twenty-four arcades of fifteen feet each, and joined 
at right angles the porch erected before the portal. 
By this arrangement the King could proceed on a 
level from his apartment to the Cathedral. 

In the middle of the nave was erected a magnifi- 
cent jub^, where the throne of Charles X. was placed. 
The cornice of the Corinthian order was supported 
by twenty columns. At the four corners there were 
gilded angels. The summit was surmounted by a 
statue of Religion and an angel bearing the royal 
crown. This jub^, glittering with gold, was placed 
about one hundred and fifty feet from the portal. 
There was a passage under it to reach the choir, and 
the ascent to it was by a staircase of thirty steps. 
As it was open, the King upon his throne could be 
seen from all parts of the basilica. At the end of 
the choir, to the right on entering, was the gallery of 
the Dauphiness and the Duchess of Berry; to the 
left, opposite, was that of the princes and princesses 
of the blood ; lower, toward the jub^, and also on the 
left, that of the ambassadors and strangers of distinc- 
tion ; by the side of the jub^, the gallery of the first 
gentlemen of the chamber of the King. There were, 
moreover, two rows of galleries on each side of the 
nave. The sanctuary was beaming with gold. The 
pillars, surrounded with wainscoting, were covered 
with rich Gothic ornaments. Above each of the gal- 
leries was a portrait of a king of France seated on 
his throne; still higher, portraits of bishops and 
statues of the cities of France in niches. At the 



THE PEEPABATION FOB THE COBONATION 131 

back, a platform had been constructed for the musi- 
cians of the Chapel of the King. The choir and the 
sanctuary were to be lighted by thirty-four grand 
chandeliers, besides the candelabra attached to each 
pillar. 

Some days before the coronation, which excited the 
curiosity of all Europe, the city of Rheims was filled 
with a crowd of tourists. The streets and prome- 
nades of the city, usually so quiet, presented an ex- 
traordinary animation. There had been constructed 
a bazaar, tents, caf^s, places for public games, and at 
the gates of the city there was a camp of ten thou- 
sand men. To visit this camp was a favorite excur- 
sion for the people and for strangers. The soldiers 
assembled each evening before their tents and sang 
hymns to the sovereign and the glory of the French 
arms. In the evening of the 22d of May, these 
military choruses v/ere closed by the Serment Fran- 
gais^ sung by all voices. At the words "Let us 
swear to be faithful to Charles ! " all heads were un- 
covered, and the soldiers waving their helmets and 
shakos in the air, cried over and again, " Long live 
the King!" 

On May 24th, the King left Paris with the Dau- 
phin. Before going to Rheims he stopped at the 
Chateau of Compi^gne, where he remained until the 
27th, amid receptions and f^tes and hunts. 

M. de Chateaubriand was already at Rheims. He 
wrote on May 26 : — 

" The King arrives day after to-morrow. He will 



132 TEE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 



be crowned Sunday, the 29t]i. I shall see him place 
upon his head a crown that no one dreamed of when 
I raised my voice in 1814. I write this page of my 
Memoirs in the room where I am forgotten amid the 
noise. This morning I visited Saint-Remi and the 
Cathedral decorated in colored paper. The only clear 
idea that I can have of this last edifice is from the 
decorations of the Jeanne d^Arc of Schiller, played at 
Berlin. The opera-scene painters showed me on 
the banks of the Spree, what the opera-scene painters 
on the banks of the Vesle hide from me. But I 
amused myself with the old races, from Clovis with 
his Franks and his legion come down from heaven, 
to Charles VII. with Jeanne d'Arc." 

The writer, who some weeks earlier had expressed 
himself in terms so dithyrambic as to the consecra- 
tion, now wrote as follows of this religious and 
monarchical solemnity : — 

"Under what happy auspices did Louis XVI. 
ascend the throne! How popular he was, succeed- 
ing to Louis XV. ! And yet what did he become ? 
The present coronation will be the representation 
of a coronation. It will not be one; we shall see 
the Marshal Moncey, an actor at that of Napoleon, 
the Marshal who formerly celebrated the death of the 
tyrant Louis XVI. in his army, brandish the royal 
sword at Rheims in his rank as Count of Flanders or 
Duke of Aquitaine. To whom can this parade really 
convey any illusion ? I should have wished no pomp 
to-day; the King on horseback, the church bare, 



THE PREPABATIOJSr FOR THE CORONATION 133 

adorned only with its ancient arches and tombs ; the 
two Chambers present, the oath of fidelity to the 
Charter taken aloud on the Bible. This would have 
been the renewal of the monarchy; they might have 
begun it over again with liberty and religion. Un- 
fortunately there was little love of liberty, even if 
they had had at least a taste for glory," 

This is not all; the curious royalist, as if disa- 
bused as to Bourbon glories, so extolled by him, 
glorifies, apropos of the coronation of Charles X., 
the Napoleon whom in 1814 he called disdainfully 
"Buonaparte," loading him' with the most cutting 
insults : — 

"After all, did not the new coronation, when 
the Pope anointed a man as great as the chief of the 
second race, by a change of heads alter the effect 
of the ancient ceremony of our history ? The people 
have been led to think that a pious rite does not dedi- 
cate any one to the throne, or else renders indifferent 
the choice of the brow to be touched by the holy oil. 
The supernumeraries at Notre-Dame de Paris, play- 
ing also in the Cathedral of Rheims, are no longer any- 
thing but the obligatory personages^ of a stage that 
has become common. The advantage really is with 
Napoleon, who furnishes his figurants to Charles X. 
The figure of the Emperor thenceforth dominates all. 
It appears in the background of events and ideas. 
The leaflets of the good time to which we have 
attained shrivel at the glance of his eagles." 

Charles X. left Compi^gne the 27th of May in the 



134 TEE DUCBESS OF BEBBT 

morning, and slept at Fismes. The next day, the 
28th, he had just quitted this town and was descend- 
ing a steep hill, when several batteries of the royal 
guard fired a salute at his departure; the horses, 
frightened, took flight. Thanks to the skill of the 
postilion, there was no accident to the King; but a 
carriage of his suite, in which were the Duke of Au- 
mont, the Count de Cossd, the Duke of Damas, and 
the Count Curial, was overturned and broken, and 
the last two wounded. At noon Charles X. arrived 
at a league and a half from Rheims, at the village of 
Tinqueux, where he was awaited by the Dukes of 
Orleans and Bourbon, the officers of his civil and 
military household, the authorities of Rheims, the 
legion of the mounted National Guard of Paris, etc. 
He entered the gold carriage, — termed the corona- 
tion carriage, — where the Dauphin and the Dukes 
of Orleans and Bourbon took their places beside 
him. The cortege then took up its march. From 
Tinqueux to Rheims, the royal coach, gleaming with 
gold, passed under a long arcade of triumphal arches 
adorned with streamers and foliage. From the gates 
of the city to the Cathedral, flowers strewed the sand 
that covered the ground. All the houses were hung 
with carpets and garlands ; at all the windows, from 
all the balconies, from all the roofs, innumerable spec- 
tators shouted their acclamations; the cortege ad- 
vanced to the sound of all the bells of the city, and 
to the noise of a salvo of artillery of one hundred and 
one guns. The King was received under a dais at 



THE PBEPABATION FOB THE COBONATION 135 

the door of the metropolitan church, by the Arch- 
bishop of Rheims in his pontifical robes, and accom- 
panied by his suffragans, the Bishops of Soissons, 
Beauvais, Chalons, and Amiens. The Archbishop 
presented the holy water to the sovereign, who knelt, 
kissed the Gospels, then was escorted processionally 
into the sanctuary. His prie-dieu was placed at fif- 
teen feet from the altar, on a platform, about which 
was a magnificent canopy hung from the ceiling of 
the Cathedral. 

The Dauphiness had entered her gallery with the 
Duchess of Berry and the princesses of the blood. 
The Archbishop celebrated the vespers, and then the 
Cardinal de La Fare ascended the pulpit and deliv- 
ered a sermon in which he said : — 

" God of Clovis, if there is here below a spectacle 
capable of interesting Thy infinite Majesty, would 
it not be that which in this solemnity fixes universal 
attention and invites and unites all prayers ? These 
days of saintly privilege, in which the hero of Tol- 
biac, and thirteen centuries after him, the sixty-fifth 
of his successors have come to the same temple to 
receive the same consecration, can they be con- 
founded with the multitude of human events, to be 
buried and lost in the endless annals ? To what, O 
great God ! if not to the persistence of Thy immu- 
table decrees, can we attribute, on this earth, always 
so changing and mobile, the supernatural gift of this 
miraculous duration ? " 

The Cardinal covered with praises not only the 



136 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

King, but the Dauphin, the Dauphiness, the Duchess 
of Berry, the Duke of Bordeaux. He cried: — 

"Constantly happy as King, may Charles X. be 
constantly happy as father ! 

" May his paternal glances always see about him, 
shining with a brilliancy that nothing can change, 
this family so precious, the ornament of his court, 
the charm of his life, the future of France ! 

" This illustrious Dauphin, the terror of the genius 
of evil, the swift avenger of the majesty of kings, 
conquering hero and peace-maker ! 

"This magnanimous Princess, the living image 
of celestial charity, the visible Providence of the un- 
fortunate, the model of heroism as of virtue ! 

" This admirable mother of the Child of Miracle, 
who restored hope to the dismayed nation, aston- 
ished it by her courage and captivates it by her 
goodness ! 

" This tender scion of the first branch of the lilies, 
the object, before his birth, of so many desires, and 
now of so many hopes." 

The Prince of the Church, amid general emotion, 
thus closed his discourse : — 

"May it be, O Lord! thy protecting will, that if 
the excess of ills has surpassed our presentiments 
and our fear, the reality of good may, in its turn, 
surpass our hopes and our desires. 

" Condescend that the lasting succor of Thy grace 
may guide in an unbroken progress of prosperity 
and lead to happiness without vicissitude or end, 



TBE PBEPABATION FOB THE COBOKATION 137 

our King, Thy adorer, and his people, who, under his 
laws, shall be more than ever religious and faithful." 

After the sermon, the Archbishop celebrated the Te 
Deum, to which Charles X. listened standing. Then 
after having kissed the altar and a reliquary in which 
was a piece of the true cross, the sovereign returned 
to his apartments in the Archbishop's palace. 

Thus passed the eve of the consecration. The 
same day M. de Chateaubriand wrote : — 

" Rheims, Saturday, the eve of the consecration. I 
saw the King enter. I saw pass the gilded coaches 
of the monarch who, a little while ago, had not a 
horse to mount; I saw rolling by, carriages full of 
courtiers who had not known how to defend their 
master. This herd went to the church to sing the 
Te Deum, and I went to visit a Roman ruin, and to 
walk alone in an elm grove called the Bois d^ Amour. 
I heard from afar the jubilation of the bells ; I con- 
templated the tov/ers of the Cathedral, secular wit- 
nesses of this ceremony always the same and yet so 
different in history, time, ideas, morals, usages, and 
customs. The monarchy perished, and for a long 
time the Cathedral was changed to -a stable. Does 
Charles X., when he sees it again to-day, recall that 
he saw Louis XVI. receive anointment in the same 
place where he in his turn is to receive it? Will he 
believe that a consecration shelters him from misfor- 
tune ? There is no longer a hand with virtue enough 
to cure the king's evil, no ampulla with holy power 
sufficient to render kings inviolable." 



138 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Sucli was the disposition of the great writer, always 
content with himself, discontented with others. The 
crowd of royalists, far from showing themselves scep- 
tical and morose, as he was, was about to attend the 
ceremony of the morrow in a wholly different mood. 
It had long been ready with its enthusiasm, and 
awaited with impatience mingled with respect the 
dawn of the day about to rise. 



XIV 



THE COKONATION 



SUNDAY, the 29th of May, 1825, the city of 
Rheims presented, even before sunrise, an ex- 
traordinary animation. From four o'clock in the 
morning vehicles were circulating in the streets, 
and an hour after people with tickets were directing 
their steps toward the Cathedral, the men in uniform 
or court dress, the women in full dress. The sky 
was clear and the weather cool. 

Let us listen to an eye-witness, the Count d'Haus- 
sonville, the future member of the French Acad- 
emy: — 

" Need I say that the competition had been ardent 
among women of the highest rank to obtain access 
to the galleries of the Cathedral, which, not having 
been reserved for the dignitaries, could receive a 
small number of happy chosen ones ? Such was the 
eagerness of this feminine battalion to mount to the 
assault of the places whence they could see and be 
seen, that at six o'clock in the morning when I pre- 
sented myself at the Gothic porch built of wood before 
the Cathedral, I found them already there and under 
arms. They were in court dress, with trains, all 

^9 



140 THE DUCHESS OF BERBT 

wearing, according to etiquette, uniform coiffures of 
lace passed tkrough the hair (what they called harhes)^ 
and which fell about their necks and shoulders, con- 
scientiously decolletes. For a cool May morning it 
was rather a Tight costume ; they were shivering with 
cold. In vain they showed their tickets, and recited, 
in order to gain entrance, their titles and their rank ; 
the grenadier of the royal guard, charged with main- 
taining order until the hour of the opening of the 
doors, marched unmoved before these pretty beggars, 
among whom I remember to have remarked the Coun- 
tess of Choiseul, her sister, the Marchioness of Cril- 
lon, the Countess of Bourbon-Bosset, etc. He had 
his orders from his chief to let no one enter, and no 
one did." 

Finally the doors were opened. At a quarter after 
six all the galleries were filled. The foreign sover- 
eigns were represented by especial ambassadors : the 
King of Spain by the Duke of Villa-Hermosa, the 
Emperor of Austria by Prince Esterhazy, the King of 
England by the Duke of Northumberland, the Em- 
peror of Russia by the Prince Wolkonski, the King of 
Prussia by General de Zastrow. These various per- 
sonages were objects of curiosity to the crowd, as was 
Sidi-Mahmoud, ambassador of the Bey of Tunis. 
The rich toilets and dazzling jewels of the ladies of 
the court were admired; all eyes were fixed on the 
gallery where were the Dauphiness, the Duchess of 
Berry, and the Duchess and Mademoiselle d' Orleans, 
all four resplendent with diamonds. The spectacle 



TBE COBOKATION 141 

was magnificent. An array of marvels attracted atten- 
tion. Beliind the altar the sacred vessels in gold, of 
antique form, the crown in diamonds surmounted by 
the famous stone, the " Regent, " the other attributes 
of royalty on a cushion of velvet embroidered with 
fleurs-de-lis ; on the front of the altar the royal man- 
tle, open, not less than twenty-four feet in length; 
on the altar of green-veined marble, superb candela- 
bra in gold ; on the centre of the cross of the church, 
suspended from the ceiling above the choir and the 
prie-dieu of the King, an immense canopy of crimson 
velvet, sown with golden fleurs-de-lis; at the back 
of the choir, toward the nave, about one hundred and 
fifty feet from the portal, the gigantic jubd with its 
staircase of thirty steps; upon this the throne; all 
around a swarm of standards, those of the five com- 
panies of the King's body-guard, and the flag of his 
foot-guards, borne by the superior officers; on the 
two sides of the stairway, ranged en Schelon, the flags 
and standards of the regiments of the guard and of 
the line in camp under the walls of Rheims ; a splen- 
dor of light, banishing all regret for the sun, from 
candelabra at the entrance of the choir, from chande- 
liers in the galleries, from chandeliers full of candles 
suspended from the ceiling, from tapers on the col- 
umns. 

The Cardinals de Clermont-Tonnerre and de La 
Fare, preceded by the metropolitan chapter, came 
to seek the King in his apartment in the palace. The 
Grand Preceptor knocked at the door of the royal 



142 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 



chamber; the Grand Chamberlain said in a loud 
voice : — 

"What do you seek?" The Cardinal de Cler- 
mont-Tonnerre responded : — 

"Charles X., whom God has given us for King." 

Then the ushers opened the doors of the chamber. 
The two cardinals entered and saluted the sovereign, 
who rose from his chair, bowed, and received the holy 
water. The Cardinal de Clermont-Tonnerre recited 
a prayer. The cortege was formed, and in the fol- 
lowing order traversed the great covered gallery 
which had been built along the right side of the 
Cathedral : — 

The metropolitan chapter; the King's foot-guards; 
the band; the heralds-at-arms ; the king-at-arms ; the 
aides de c^r^monies; the Grand Master of Ceremo- 
nies, Marquis de Dreux-Br^z^; the four knights of 
the Order of the Holy Spirit, who were to carry the 
offerings, viz. the Duke de Vauguyon the wine in a 
golden vase, the Duke of Rochefoucauld the pain 
d^ argent, the Duke of Luxembourg the pain d^or, the 
Duke of Gramont the ewers filled with silver medals ; 
the King's pages on the flanks ; the Marshal Moncey, 
Duke of Conegliano, charged with the functions of 
constable, holding in his hand his naked sword ; the 
Duke of Mortemart, captain-colonel of the foot- 
guards in ordinary to the King; the Marshal Victor 
Duke of Bellune, major-general of the royal guard; 
the Marshal Marquis de Lauriston, the Count de 
Coss^, and the Duke de Polignac, named by the 



THE CORONATION 143 

KiDg to bear his train in the church; then, with his 
two attendant cardinals, de Clermont-Tonnerre and 
de La Fare, one at his right, the other at his left, the 
King. 

There was a movement of curiosity, attention, and 
respect. Charles X. had entered the Cathedral. The 
moment his foot crossed the threshold, Cardinal de 
La Fare pronounced a prayer : — 

" O God, who knowest that the human race can- 
not subsist by its own virtue, grant Thy succor to 
Charles, Thy servant, whom Thou hast put at the 
head of Thy people, that he may himself succor and 
protect those subject to him," 

Here, then, is Charles X. in that basilica where 
fifty years before, Sunday, June 11, 1775, he assisted 
at the coronation of his brother Louis XVI. Then 
he was seventeen. Ah! what would have been his 
surprise had it been foretold to him by what strange 
and horrible series of gloomy and bloody dramas he 
should himself come to be crowned in this Cathe- 
dral of Rheims ! What a contrast between the relig- 
ious pomps of June 11, 1775, and the sacrilegious 
scaffolds of January 21 and October 16, 1793 ! What 
a difference between the royal mantle of the sover- 
eign and the humble costume of the captive of the 
Temple, between the resplendent toilet of the Queen 
of France and Navarre and the patched gown of the 
prisoner of the Conciergerie ! What a road trav- 
elled between the hosannas of the priests and the in- 
sults of the Furies of the Guillotine ! What reflec- 



144 THE DUCHESS OF BERBT 

tions might one make who had been present at both 
the ceremonies ! How much must such an one have 
been moved were he the King himself, the brother 
of Louis XVI., Charles X. ! But the 29th of May, 
1825, all hearts inclined to confidence and joy. Peo- 
ples forget quickly, and there were but few to call 
up sinister memories. The sovereign appeared in 
his first costume, a camisole of white satin, with 
a cap rich with diamonds, surmounted by black 
and white plumes. Despite his sixty-seven years, 
Charles X. had a fine presence, a slender form, a 
manner almost youthful. State costumes became 
him perfectly. He wore them with the elegance of 
the men of the old court. 

Let us listen again to Count d'Haussonville: — 
"At the moment Charles X. crossed the nave, 
clad in a gown of white satin, opened over a doublet 
of the same color and the same material, a general 
thrill evoked a thousand little cries of ecstasy from 
my lady neighbors. With that sensitiveness to grace 
innate with women, and which never fails to delight 
them, how could they help applauding the royal and 
supremely elegant fashion in which Charles X., 
despite his age, wore this strange and slightly theat- 
rical costume ? No one was better adapted than he, 
in default of more solid qualities, to give a becoming 
air to the outward manifestations of a royalty that 
was at once amiable and dignified." 

It is half -past seven in the morning. The cere- 
mony begins. Escorted by his two attendant car- 



TBE COUONATtON 145 

dinals, the King reaches the foot of the altar and 
kneels. Mgr. de Latil, Archbishop of Rheims, 
standing and without his mitre, pronounces this 
prayer ; — 

"Almighty God, who rulest all above us, and 
who hast deigned to raise to the throne Thy servant 
Charles, we implore Thee to preserve him from all 
adversity, to strengthen him with the gift of the 
peace of the Church, and to bring him by Thy grace 
to the joys of a peace eternal! " 

The King is now escorted by the two cardinals to 
the seat prepared for him in the centre of the sanc- 
tuary, under the great dais, a little in advance of the 
first of the steps that divide the sanctuary from the 
choir. At his right are the Dauphin, the Duke 
of Orleans, and the Duke of Bourbon, their ducal 
crowns on their heads. 

The Veni Creator having been sung, the Arch- 
bishop takes the book of the Gospels, on which he 
places a piece of the true cross, and holds it open 
before the monarch. Charles X., seated, his head 
covered, his hand on the Gospels and the true cross, 
pronounces in a strong voice the oath of corona- 
tion ; — 

" In the presence of God, I promise to my people 
to maintain and honor our holy religion, as belongs 
to the very Christian King and eldest son of the 
Church; to render good justice to all my subjects; 
finally, to govern according to the laws of the king- 
dom and the Constitutional Charter, which I swear 



146 THE BTICHSSS OF BEBRY 

faithfully to observe, so help me God and His holy- 
Gospels." 

The King next takes two other oaths, the first as 
sovereign chief and grand master of the Order of the 
Holy Spirit, the others as sovereign chief and grand 
master of the military and royal Order of Saint Louis 
and of the royal Order of the Legion of Honor. He 
swears to maintain these orders and not to allow them 
to fail of their glorious prerogatives. Then his gown 
is removed by the First Gentleman of the Chamber, 
and he gives his cap to the First Chamberlain. He 
now bears only the robe of red satin with gold 
lace on the seams. He is seated. The Marquis of 
Dreux-Br^z^, Grand Master of Ceremonies, goes to 
the altar and takes the shoes of violet velvet sown 
with golden fleurs-de-lis, and Prince Talleyrand, 
Grand Chamberlain, puts them on the feet of the 
King. 

Then the Archbishop blesses the sword of Charle- 
magne, placed on the altar in its scabbard : — 

''JEJxaudi Domine,^^ he says, "grant our prayers, and 
deign to bless with Thy hand this sword with which 
Thy servant Charles is girt, that he may use it to 
protect the churches, the widows, and the orphans, 
and all Thy servants; and may this sword inspire 
dread and terror to whoever shall dare to lay snares 
for our King. We ask it through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

The Archbishop draws the sword from the sheath, 
and places it naked in the hands of the King, who, 



THE CORONATION 147 

having lowered it, offers it to God and replaces it 
upon tlie altar. 

To the ceremony of the sword succeeds the prepa- 
ration of the holy chrism. The Archbishop has the 
reliquary opened containing the holy ampulla, which 
is taken from a little chest of gold; he withdraws 
from it, by means of a golden needle, a particle 
which he mingles with the holy chrism on the patin. 
Meanwhile the choir chants : — 

"The holy Bishop Remi, having received from 
Heaven this precious balm, sanctified the illustrious 
race of the French in the baptismal waters and en- 
riched them with the gift of the Holy Spirit." 

Then the two attendant cardinals undo the open- 
ings made in the garments of the King for the 
anointings, and escort His Majesty to the altar. A 
large carpet of velvet with fleurs-de-lis is stretched 
in front, and on this are two cushions of velvet, one 
over the other. The King prostrates himself, his 
face against the cushions. The Archbishop, holding 
the golden patin of the chalice of Saint Remi, on 
which is the sacred unction, takes some upon his 
thumb, and consecrates the King, who is kneeling. 

The Archbishop then proceeds to the seven anoint- 
ings : on the crown of the head, on the breast, between 
the shoulders, on the right shoulder, on the left 
shoulder, in the bend of the right arm, in the bend 
of the left arm, making the sign of the cross at each, 
and repeating seven times : Ungo te in regem de oleo 
sanctificato^ in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. 



148 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBT 

Aided by the attendant cardinals, he then closes the 
openings in the King's garments. 

The Grand Chamberlain advances, and puts upon 
His Majesty the tunic and dalmatica of violet satin 
sown with fleurs-de-lis in gold, which the Master of 
Ceremonies and an aide have taken from the altar. 
The Grand Chamberlain places over these the royal 
mantle of violet velvet sown with golden fleurs-de- 
lis, lined and bordered with ermine. Charles X.y 
clad in the royal robes, kneels. The Archbishop, 
seated, with the mitre on his head, anoints the palms 
of his hands, saying: Ungentur manus istce de oleo 
sanetificato. The King then receives the gloves 
sprinkled with holy water, the ring, the sceptre, 
the main de justice. 

The Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans, and the Duke 
of Bourbon advance. The Archbishop, mitre on 
head, takes with both hands from the altar the crown 
of Charlemagne and holds it above the King's head 
without touching it. Immediately the three princes 
put out their hands to support it. The Archbishop, 
holding it with the left hand only, with the right 
makes the sign of benediction : Coronal te Deus corona 
glorice atque justitice. After which he places the 
crown on the head of the King, saying : Accipe coro- 
nam regni in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, 

Now that the King is crowned, he ascends the 
steps of the jube, and seats himself upon the throne. 
The religious silence, maintained to that moment, is 
broken by cries of "Long live the King!" which- 



THE CORONATION 149 

rise from all parts of the Cathedral. The ladies in 
the galleries wave their handkerchiefs. The enthu- 
siasm reaches a paroxysm. Flourishes of trumpets 
resound. The people enter the Cathedral amid 
acclamations. Three salutes are fired by the infantry 
of the royal guard. The artillery responds from the 
city ramparts. The bells ring. The heralds -at-arms 
distribute the medals struck for the coronation. The 
people rush to get them. The keepers release the 
birds, which fly here and there beneath the vaulted 
roof, dazzled, terrified by the shining chandeliers. 
The Te Deum is sung. High Mass begins. At the 
offertory the King leaves the throne to go to the altar 
with the offerings. Keaching the front of the altar, 
he hands his sceptre to Marshal Soult, Duke of Dal- 
matia, the main de justice to Marshal Mortier, Duke 
of Treviso. Then, after having presented in succes- 
sion the offerings, — viz. the wine in a vase of gold, 
the pain d^argenU the pain d^or, — he resumes his 
sceptre and his main de Justice and returns to the 
throne. 

After the benediction, the Grand Almoner goes 
and takes the kiss of peace from the Archbishop, and 
then goes and gives it to the King. The Dauphin, 
the Duke of Orleans, and the Duke of Bourbon, lay- 
ing aside their ducal crowns, come and receive the 
kiss from the King. 

After the Domine salvum fac regem Charles X. 
again descends from the throne, and returns to the 
altar. There he removes his crown and retires 



150 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

behind the altar to his confessional, where he re- 
mains three minutes. During this time the holy 
table is prepared. The cloth is held on one side 
by the Bishop of Hermopolis, First Almoner of the 
King, and on the other by the Grand Almoner. 
Charles X. kneels on a cushion before the holy table, 
which is supported by the Dauphin and the Duke of 
Orleans. The King receives the communion in both 
kinds. The whole assembly kneels. The great 
crown of Charlemagne is handed to Marshal Jour- 
dan, who bears it in front of the King. The Arch- 
bishop then places the diamond crown on the King's 
head, who resumes his sceptre and his main de jus- 
tice^ while the choir chants the Uxaudiat, and returns 
with his cortege to the Archbishop's palace, passing 
through the church and the covered gallery. It is 
half-past eleven in the morning. The ceremony of 
consecration is finished. It has lasted four hours. 

Reaching his apartments, Charles X. passes the 
sceptre to Marshal Soult, the main de Justice to 
Marshal Mortier. The shirt and the gloves touched 
by the holy unction must be burned. The great 
officers of the crown then escort the monarch to the 
royal banquet in the great hall. There he eats under 
a da'is with the Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans, and 
the Duke of Bourbon, with their ducal crowns, and 
he with the diamond crown upon the head. 

The royal insignia have been placed upon the table 
which is served by the great officers and the officers 
of the household. The marshals of France stand 



THE COBONATION 151 

before the sovereign ready to resume the insignia. 
Around about are five other tables, where are placed 
the members of the diplomatic corps, the peers of 
France, the deputies, the cardinals, archbishops, and 
bishops. The royal banquet lasts half an hour to the 
sound of military music. In the evening the city of 
Rheims is everywhere illuminated. 



XV 



CLOSE OF THE SOJOUEN AT EHEIMS 

AFTER his coronation Charles X. remained at 
Rheims during the 30th and 31st of May. On 
the 30th the ceremony of the Order of the Holy Spirit 
was celebrated in the Cathedral. The interior pre- 
sented the same aspect as the day before. At 1 p.m. 
the order passed in procession through the covered 
gallery as follows: the usher, the herald, Marquis 
d'Aguessau, Grand Master of Ceremonies of the 
order, having at his right the Count Deseze, Com- 
mander Grand Treasurer, at his left Marquis de 
Villedeuil, Commander Secretary, the Chancellor, 
two columns of Knights of the Holy Spirit. In the 
right hand column, the Viscount of Chateaubriand, 
the Duke of San-Carlos, the Prince of Castelcicala, 
the Viscount Lain^, the Marquis of Caraman, the 
Marquis Dessole, Marshal Marquis of Viomesnil, 
the Duke d' Avaray, the Marshal Duke of Ragusa, the 
Marshal Duke of Taranto, the Marshal Duke of Con- 
egliano, the Duke of Levis, the Duke of Duras, the 
Duke d'Aumont, the Duke of Luxembourg, the 
Prince of Hohenlohe, the Duke de La Vauguyon. 
In the left column, the Marquis of Talaru, the Duke 

152 



CLOSE OF THE SOJOUBN AT BHEIMS 153 

of Doudeaiiville, the Count of Vill^le, the Marshal 
Marquis of Lauriston, the Count Charles de Damas, 
the Baron Pasquier, the Duke of Blacas d'Aulps,. 
the Marquis of Riviere, the Marshal Duke of Reg- 
gio, the Duke of Dalberg, the Prince de Poix, the 
Duke de Gramont, Prince Talleyrand, the Duke de 
La Rochefoucauld. Then came the Dauphin, the 
Duke of Orleans, the Duke of Bourbon, the King. 

The vestments of the monarch, of a silver stuff, 
were covered by a mantle of the order in black velvet, 
lined with green silk stitched with gold. His head- 
dress was also in black velvet, surmounted by an 
aigrette of heron plumes. The knights of the order 
had their mantles with the Holy Spirit in silver span- 
gles on the shoulder ; the grand collar, the facings of 
their mantles, caught up in front, were of green vel- 
vet sown with gold flames. They made their entry 
into the Cathedral in two columns, which deployed 
on either side of the altar. The King, who followed 
them, seated himself on a throne in the choir and 
they arranged them^selves in their stalls to the right 
and left. The princesses occupied the same gallery 
as the day before. The clergy chanted the vespers. 
Then the two columns formed in a double rank and 
the ceremony commenced. There was a long series 
of obeisances. The King made twenty himself, 
eleven before vespers, nine after. The reception 
began with the ecclesiastical commanders and the 
laymen came afterwards. 

The solemnity was less imposing than that of the 



154 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

coronation. Count d'Haussonville remarked it: 
" The military array of so many marshals and gen- 
erals clad in brilliant uniforms, the pomp of the cere- 
monies to the slow and majestic sound of the organ 
filling the vast nave of the church, had succeeded, 
the preceding day, in redeeming for the spectators, 
and for me particularly, whatever was a little super- 
annuated in the minute observance of a ritual that 
had come down from the Middle Ages. I felt my- 
self, on the contrary, rather surprised than edified by 
the character, partly religious, partly worldly, but far 
more worldly than religious, that I witnessed on the 
morrow. Most of these gentlemen were known to 
me. I had met nearly all of them in my mother's or 
grandmother's salon. I had not been insensible to 
the fine air given them by the cordon hleu (worn 
under the frock coat, usually, or on great occasions 
over a coat covered with gold lace and shining deco- 
rations), the traditional object of ambition for those 
most in favor at court; but they seemed to me to pre- 
sent a constrained figure, as I saw them soberly ranged 
in the stalls of the canons, clad in a costume of no 
particular epoch, wrapped in long mantles of motley 
color, and following, with a distracted air, the phases 
of a ceremony to which they were so little accustomed 
that they were constantly rising, sitting down, and 
kneeling at the wrong time." 

The receptions took place as follows : the herald- 
at-arms of the order called in groups of four the 
new members from each column, and escorted them 



CLOSE OF THE SOJOURN AT EHEIMS 155 

to the middle of the sanctuary. There the four 
knights, abreast, saluted together, first the altar, then 
the sovereign. Then they advanced in line toward 
the throne, and after a second obeisance, knelt, placed 
the right hand on the book of the Gospels spread out 
on the knees of the monarch, and took the oath. The 
King decorated each vi^ith his own hand. He passed 
over their coats, from right to left, the cordon bleu 
with the cross of gold suspended from it, placed the 
collar on the mantle, gave a book of hours and a dec- 
astich to each one, who kissed his hand, rose, and 
returned to his place. 

By a curious coincidence, M. de Chateaubriand 
and M. de Villdle, two inveterate adversaries, were 
one in the column on the right, the other in that on 
the left, and the herald-at-arms of the order called 
both at once to the foot of the throne. Listen to the 
author of the Memoir es d^ outre-tomhe : — 

" I found myself kneeling at the feet of the King 
at the moment that M. de Vill^le was taking the 
oath. I exchanged a few words of politeness with 
my companion in knighthood, apropos of a plume 
detached from my hat. We quitted the knees of the 
King, and all was finished. TIiq King, having had 
some trouble in removing his gloves to take my 
hands in his, had said to me, laughing, 'A gloved cat 
catches no mice. ' It was thought that he had spoken 
to me for a long time, and the rumor spread of my 
nascent favor. It is likely that Charles X., thinking 
that the Archbishop had told me of his favorable sen- 



156 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

timents, expected a word of thanks and that he was 
shocked at my silence." 

The ceremony of the reception of the knights once 
finished, the King quitted his throne in the sanct- 
uary, after having made the required obeisances. 
The completory was next sung. Then all the mem- 
bers of the order re-escorted the monarch to his apart- 
ments in the same order and with the same ceremony 
that he had been escorted to the Cathedral. 

After the ceremony, Charles X. held a chapter of 
the order, in which he named twenty-one cordons 
hleus: the Dukes d'Uzes, de Chevreuse, de Boissac, 
de Mortemart, de Fitz-James, de Lorges, de Poli- 
gnac, de Maille, de Castries, de Narbonne, the Mar- 
shal Count Jordan, the Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, 
the Marshal Duke of Treviso, the Marquis de la 
Suze, the Marquis de Br^z^, Marquis de Pastoret, 
Count de La Ferronays, Viscount d'Agoult, Marquis 
d'Autichamp, Ravez, Count Juste de Noailles. By 
an ordinance of the same day he named to be Dukes, 
the Count Charles de Damas, Count d'Escars, and 
the Marquis de Riviere. 

The next day, May 31, the King after having heard 
Mass in his apartments, left the palace at ten o'clock 
with a brilliant cortege. Preceded by the hussars of 
the guard, and by the pages, and followed by a 
numerous staff, he was in the uniform of a general 
officer, on a white horse, whose saddle of scarlet vel- 
vet was ornamented with embroideries and fringe 
of gold. He had at his right the Dauphin on a white 



CLOSE OF THE SOJOURN AT RIIEIMS 157 

horse, and the Duke of Bourbon on a bay horse ; at 
his left the Duke of Orleans, who wore the uniform 
of a colonel-general of hussars, and rode an iron-gray 
horse. Following the cortege was an open carriage ; 
at the back the Dauphiness with the Duchess of 
Berry at her left, and in front the Duchess of Or- 
leans and Madame of Orleans, her sister-in-law. The 
route lay through an immense crowd to the Hospital 
of Saint Marcoul. When he arrived there, the King 
dismounted and offered up a prayer in the chapel. 
Then he ascended to the halls, where were assembled 
one hundred and twenty-one scrofulous patients. He 
touched them, making a cross with his finger on the 
brow, while the first physician held the head and the 
captain of the guard the hand. The King said to 
each: "May God heal thee! The King touches 
thee ! " Then he thanked the sisters who had charge 
of the hospital for all the care they gave to the solac- 
ing of suffering humanity. The pious sisters knelt 
at the feet of the sovereign, and begged his benedic- 
tion, according to an ancient custom. The King 
gave it to them, and allowed them to kiss his hand. 
The holy women wept with joy. 

Charles X., followed by his cortege, next proceeded 
to the abbey of Saint Remi, which dates from the 
eleventh century, and performed his devotions on the 
tomb of the saint whose shrine had been discovered. 
Then he remounted and went to review the troops of 
the camp of Saint Leonard, under the walls of the 
city, in a vast plain, along the river Vesle, on the 



158 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 



right of the road to Chalons. In the midst of this 
plain rises a grassy hillock, above which was placed 
the portrait of the King ; below, on a background of 
soil, was this inscription in bluets and margue- 
rites, — 

" A moment in the camp — always in our hearts." 

Not far from there an altar had been erected under 
a tent before the royal tent. All the road from Cha- 
lons, opposite the lines, was covered with a shouting 
and cheering crowd. Charles X. was accompanied 
by the princes and a brilliant staff. The carriage of 
the princesses followed him. He distributed to the 
officers, sub-officers, and soldiers the crosses of the 
Legion of Honor which he had accorded to them. 
The review, which was magnificent, lasted from noon 
to 3 P.M. Before returning to the palace, the sover- 
eign visited the bazaar established along the prome- 
nades of the lawn. He dismounted, and the princesses 
descended from their carriage to traverse the shops. 

At five o'clock the cortege, which had set out at 
10 A.M., returned to the palace. On each of the four 
nights that Charles X. passed at Rheims, the streets 
of the city were illuminated. It was clear weather, 
and by the light of the illuminations, amid the crowd 
in the streets, there were everywhere to be seen the 
generals, the officers of the King's household, and the 
great personages of the court in grand uniform. 
Charles X. set out from Rheims the morning of June 
1, and the city, after some days of dazzling pomp, 



CLOSE OF THE SOJOURN AT BHEIMS 159 

resumed its accustomed calm. Things liad passed 
off well, and the monarch was fully satisfied. 

The poets had tuned their lyres. Barthelemy, 
himself, the future author of the JVSmesis, celebrated 
in enthusiastic verses the monarchical and religious 
solemnity; Lamartine, future founder of the Second 
Republic, published Le Chant du Sacre ou la VeillSe 
des Armes ; Victor Hugo, the future idol of the 
democracy, sang his dithyrambic songs. Yet, in this 
concert of enthusiasm there were some discordant 
notes. B Granger circulated his ironic song Le Sacre 
de Charles le Simple. 

As for Chateaubriand, the most illustrious of the 
royalist writers, he was to close his chapter of the 
Memoires d^ outre-tomhe as follows : — 

" So I have witnessed the last consecration of the 
successors of Clovis. I had brought it about by the 
pages in which in my pamphlet, Le Hoi est mortf 
Vive le Roi ! I had described it and solicited it. Not 
that I had the least faith in the ceremony, but as 
everything was wanting to legitimacy, it had to be 
sustained by every means, whatever it might be 
worth." 



XVI 

THE EE-ENTEANCE INTO PAEIS 

CHARLES X. made a solemn re-entrance into 
Paris, June 6, 1825. According to the Moni- 
teur, Paris was divided between a lively desire for 
the day to come and fear that the weather, constantly 
rainy, should spoil the splendor of the royal pomp. 
At the barrier of La Villette there had been erected 
amphitheatres and a triumphal arch. The streets 
were hung with white flags and the arms of the sov- 
ereign, with the inscription ; " Long live Charles X. ! 
Long live our well-beloved King! " The Rue Saint 
Denis, the Rue du Roule, the Rue Saint Honor^, 
presented a picturesque spectacle. The merchants 
of these business streets had converted the facades of 
their houses into an exposition of the rich tissues of 
their shops, and the cortege was thus to traverse a 
sort of bazaar. What a pity if the rain was going to 
spoil so many fine preparations ! By a good luck, on 
which every one congratulated himself, the weather 
in the morning ceased its gloomy look, and a mer- 
chant of the Rue Saint Denis inscribed on his balcony 
these two celebrated lines, — 

"Nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mane, 
Divisum imperium cum Jove Csesar habet." 
160 



THE RE-ENTRANCE INTO PARIS 161 



At 1 P.M. a salvo of one hundred and one guns 
announced the arrival of the monarch at the barrier 
of La Villette. The Prefect of the Seine addressed 
him an allocution and presented him the keys of the 
city. The King responded : " I feel a great satisfac- 
tion in re-entering these walls. I always recall with 
lively emotion the reception given me eleven years 
ago when I preceded the King, my brother. I return 
here, having received the holy unction that has given 
me new strength. I consecrate it all, and all that I 
have of life and all my resources, to the happiness of 
France. It is my firm resolve, gentlemen, and I give 
you the assurance of it." 

The cortege then took up its march. It was formed 
of a squadron of gendarmerie, several squadrons of 
the lancers and cuirassiers of the royal guard, the 
mounted National Guard of Paris, the staff of the 
garrison and of the first military division, a numerous 
group of general and superior officers. 

The Count d'Haussonville wrote on the subject: — 

" I was in the cortege, and as the staff of the Na- 
tional Guard followed pretty close to the royal car- 
riage, I had occasion to note how far below what had 
been hoped was the reception at the gate of La Vil- 
lette, where a triumphal arch had been erected. 
Some groups, plainly soldiers, after the discourse of 
the Prefect of Paris and the response of the King, 
uttered some huzzas that found no echo. When we 
approached the boulevards, the public warmed up a 
little. The windows were lined with women, of 



162 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

whom the greater number waved their handkerchiefs 
in sign of welcome. Around Notre-Dame, whither 
the cortege proceeded on its way to the Tuileries, the 
crowd was enormous behind the line of soldiers 
charged with restraining it. There was nothing 
offensive in their remarks; neither was there any 
emotion or sympathy. The magnificence of the equi- 
pages and the costumes, the beauty of the military 
uniforms, particularly of the corps d^ elite., such as 
the Hundred Swiss and the body-guard, were the only 
things spoken of. The spectators sought to guess 
and name to each other the prominent persons." 

During the passage the King received bouquets 
offered him by the market men and women, as well 
as by a number of workmen's corporations preceded 
by their banners. At the entrance of the Cathedral 
he was congratulated by the Archbishop of Paris 
at the head of the clergy. A Te Deum was sung and 
the MareJie du Sacre of Lesueur was played. Then 
the King returned to his carriage and directed his 
course to the Tuileries. 

As the cortege drew near to the Chateau, the wel- 
come grew more and more cordial. The balconies 
of many of the houses were draped. Women of the 
court, in rich toilet, threw bouquets and flowers to 
the King. The Count d'Haussonville says: — 

" The untiring good grace with which the King 
returned the salutations of the crowd, and by gestures 
full of bonhomie and affability, responded to the cries 
of persons whom he recognized as he passed, added 



THE BE-ENTRANCE INTO PARIS 163 

every moment to his personal success. In fact, when, 
June 6, 1825, at evening, he descended from the 
magnificent coronation coach, to mount the stairs of 
the palace of his fathers, Charles X. had reason to be 
content with the day. I doubt whether among the 
witnesses of the splendid fetes that had followed 
without interruption at Rheims and at Paris, there 
were many who would not have been strongly sur- 
prised if there had been announced to them by what 
a catastrophe, in five years only, an end was to be 
put to the reign inaugurated under the happiest 
auspices." 

The 8th of June, the city of Paris offered to the 
King a fete at which there were eight thousand 
guests. The sovereign made his entry, having the 
Dauphiness on his right, and on the left the Duchess 
of Berry, who opened the ball. A cantata was sung 
with words by Alexandre Soumet, and the music by 
Lesueur. 

The 10th of June, the King went to the Opera 
with the Dauphin, the Dauphiness, and the Duchess 
of Berry. The back of the stage opened and showed, 
in an immense perspective, the most illustrious kings 
of France; at the farthest line .were the statue of 
Henry IV., Paris, its monuments, the Louvre. The 
19th of June, Charles X. again accompanied by the 
family went to the Th^atre-Italien. 11 viaggio a 
Reims was played. Le Moniteur, apropos of this 
work, said : — 

" It is an opera of a mould which, under the forms 



164 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



of the Opera huffa, presents some ideas not destitute 
of comedy, in wliich. homage of love and respect 
is at times expressed with an art that French 
taste cannot disavow. The author, M. Bellochi, has 
conceived the praiseworthy idea of introducing per- 
sonages of all the nations of Europe, joining with 
the French in their prayers for the happiness of our 
country and of the august family that governs us. 
The composer is M. Rossini. The morceaux are 
worthy of the reputation of this celebrated master. 
Madame Pasta displaj^ed all the resources of her 
admirable talent. Bouquets of roses and lilies were 
distributed to the ladies." 

There was an endless series of fetes, receptions, 
balls at court, at the houses of the ministers of the 
foreign ambassador, theatrical representations retrac- 
ing the incidents of the coronation. The cities of 
the provinces imitated the example of Paris. All 
this movement stimulated business, and France ap- 
peared happy. But to an acute observer it was plain 
that the pomps of the coronation and the fetes that 
followed it pleased the people of the court more than 
the bourgeoisie. The Count d'Haussonville says, 
apropos of the nobility at that time : — • 

" I had the feeling — educated as I was at college, 
and provided early with a sort of precocious expe- 
rience, the precious fruit of public education — that 
the nobility was a world a little apart. I instinc- 
tively perceived how much the preoccupations of the 
persons with whom I was then passing my time were 



THE BE-ENTRANGE INTO PARIS 165 

of a nature particular, special to their class, not op- 
posed — that would be saying too much certainly — 
but a little foreign to the great currents that swayed 
the opinion of their contemporaries. They had their 
way of loving the King and their country which was 
not very comprehensible, nor even, perhaps, very 
acceptable, to the mass of the people and the bour- 
geois classes, who were rather inclined to remain 
cold or even sullen in the presence of certain "mani- 
festations of an ultra-royalism, the outward signs of 
which were not always at this time entirely circum- 
spect." 

To one regarding the horizon attentively there 
were already some dark spots on the bright azure 
of the heavens. The struggles of the rival classes of 
French society existed in a latent state. The white 
flag had not made the tricolor forgotten. Charles X. , 
consecrated by &n archbishop, did not efface the 
memory of Napoleon crowned by a pope, and beneath 
royalist France were pressing upward already Bona- 
partist France and Revolutionary France. 



XVII 

THE JUBILEE OF 1826 

THE dominant quality of Charles X., his piety, 
was the one that was to be most used against 
him. There was in this piety nothing morose, 
hypocritical, fanatical, and not an idea of intoler- 
ance or persecution mingled with it. Conviction 
and feeling united in the heart of the King to 
inspire him with profound faith. In 1803, before 
the death-bed of a beloved woman, he had sworn to 
renounce earthly for divine love, and from that time 
he had kept his vow. The woman by whom this con- 
version was made was the sister-in-law of the Duch- 
ess of Polignac, Louise d'Esparbes, Viscountess of 
Polastron. The Duchess of Gontaut recounts in 
her unpublished Memoirs the touching and pathetic 
scene of the supreme adieu of this charming woman 
and of Charles X., then Count d'Artois. It was in 
England during the Emigration. The Viscountess 
of Polastron was dying with consumption, and the 
approach of the end reawakened in her all the piety 
of her childhood. A holy priest, the Abb^ de Latil, 
demanded the departure of the Prince. " I implore 
Monseigneur," he said, "to go into the country; you 
166 



THE JUBILEE OF 1826 167 

shall see the poor penitent again; she herself desires 
it, having one word to say to you, one favor to ask, 
but it cannot be until at the moment of death." 

The Prince, who, even at the time of his greatest 
errors, had never ceased to love and honor religion, 
obeyed the command of the priest. He awaited in 
cruel anguish the hour when he should be permitted 
to return. It was authorized only when death was 
very near. The Duchess of Gontaut says : — 

" The doors of the salon were opened. Monsieur 
dared not approach; I was near the dying woman and 
held her hand; it was trembling. She perceived 
Monsieur. He was about to rush toward her. 'Come 
no nearer,' said the Abbe, in a firm voice. Mon- 
sieur did not venture to cross the threshold. The 
agitation redoubled; the agony increased. She raised 
her hands to heaven, and said : — 

"'One favor, Monseigneur, one favor — live for 
God, all for God. ' 

"He fell upon his knees, and said: 'I swear it, 
God! ' She said again, 'All for God! ' Her head 
fell on my shoulder; this last word was her last 
breath: she was no more. Monsieur raised his arms 
to heaven, uttered a horrible cry: the door was 
closed." 

The Count d'Artois was then but forty-five, but 
from that day he never gave occasion for the least 
scandal, and led an exemplary life. As Louis XIV. 
had held in profound esteem the courageous prelates 
who adjured him to break with his mistresses, 



168 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

Charles X. was attached to the truly Christian priest 
who had converted him by the death-bed of the Vis- 
countess of Polastron. The Abbe de Latil, the 
obscure ecclesiastic of the Emigration, became, under 
the Restoration, the Archbishop of Eheims and Car- 
dinal. It was not without profound emotion that 
the very Christian King saw himself consecrated b}^ 
the priest who twenty-two years before had caused 
him to return to virtue. This memory was imposed 
on the mind and heart of the monarch, and under the 
vault of the ancient Cathedral, he certainly thought 
of Madame de Polastron, as of a good angel, who, 
from the height of heaven, watched over him, and 
who, by her prayers, had aided him to traverse so 
many trials, to reach the religious triumph of the 
coronation. 

Charles X. was happy then. Profoundly sincere 
in his ardent desire to make France happy, he believed 
himself at one with God and with his people, and re- 
joiced in that supreme good, so often wanting to sov- 
ereigns, — peace of heart. Could he be reproached 
for having taken the ceremony of his coronation 
seriously? A king who does not believe in his 
royalty is no more to be respected than a priest who 
does not believe in his religion. Charles X. was 
convinced, as the Archbishop of Rheims had said in 
his letter of 29th May, 1825, that kings exercise over 
their subjects the power of God Himself, and that 
they have that sacred majesty, upon which, in the 
fine expression of Bossuet, God, for the good of 



THE JUBILEE OF 1826 169 

tilings human, causes to shine a portion of the splen- 
dor of divine majesty. 

This disposition of mind in Charles X. fortified his 
piety, so that, at the time of the jubilee of 1826, he 
seized eagerly the opportunity to affirm his religious 
faith, and to return thanks to the God of his fathers, 
who at this epoch of his life was loading him with 
favors. 

The jubilee is a time of penitence and pardon, 
when the Pope accords plenary indulgence to all 
Catholics who submit to certain practices and assist 
at certain pious ceremonies. The grand jubilee was 
formerly celebrated only once in a hundred years; 
afterwards it took place every fifty, and then every 
twenty-five years. 1825 was the time of its first 
celebration in the nineteenth century, and it drew to 
Rome that year more than ten thousand pilgrims. 
The Pope had celebrated the close of it the 24th of 
December, 1825, but yielding to the prayeis of sev- 
eral Catholic powers, he accorded to them, by special 
bulls, the privilege of celebrating the same solemnity 
in 1826. 

The opening of the French jubilee took place Feb- 
ruary 15, 1826, at Notre-Dame de Paris. The papal 
bull, borne on a rich cushion, was remitted to the 
Archbishop for public reading. The nuncio chanted 
the Veni Creator. Mass was said by the Cardinal, 
Prince of Croi, Archbishop of Rouen, Grand Almoner 
of France. The relics of the apostles Saint Peter 
and Saint Paul were borne around the Place du Par- 



170 THE DUCHESS OF BEERT 

vis, in the midst of a cortege, in which were present 
the marshals of France, the generals, and the four 
princesses. The order of the Archbishop of Paris 
prescribed four general processions. The first took 
place with great pomp the 17th of March, 1826. 
The King and the royal family, the princes and 
princesses of the blood, all the court, the marshals, a 
multitude of high functionaries, peers of France, 
deputies, officers, assisted at this ceremony in which 
appeared the Archbishop of Paris and his grand 
vicars, the metropolitan chapter, the pupils of » all the 
seminaries in surplice, the priests of all the Paris 
churches with their sacerdotal armaments. It was a 
veritable army of ecclesiastics that traversed the cap- 
ital. In the midst of the cortege, the reliquary 
containing the relics of Saint Peter and Saint Paul 
was the object of the devotion of the faithful. Sur- 
rounded by the Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans, the 
young Duke of Chartres, the great officers of the 
crown, of the Hundred Swiss, and of the body-guard, 
Charles X., in a costume half religious, half mili- 
tary, walked between a double hedge formed by the 
royal guard and the troops of the line. The Place 
du Parvis-Notre-Dame was hung with draperies in 
fleur-de-lis, and all the streets to be traversed by the 
procession had been draped and sanded. The first 
stop of the cortege was under the peristyle of the 
Hotel-Dieu, where an altar had been erected; the 
second, at the Church of the Sorbonne ; the third, at 
that of Sainte Genevieve. The two other proces- 



THE JUBILEE OF 1826 171 

sions had no less eclat^ and their pauses being fixed 
in the churches of the principal parishes, they passed 
thi-ough the busiest and most populous quarters of 
Paris. 

The fourth and last procession, that of the 3d of 
May, was the most important of all. It was to close 
by an expiatory ceremony in honor of Louis XVI., 
by the laying and benediction of the corner-stone of 
the monument voted by the Chamber of 1815, and 
which still awaited its foundation. It is at the very 
place where the unfortunate sovereign had been exe- 
cuted that the monument was to be constructed. 
The cortege left Notre-Dame and directed its course 
first to the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. 
The Chamber of Peers, the Chamber of Deputies, all 
the functionaries, all the authorities of the Depart- 
ment of the Seine, followed the King and Dauphin, 
who advanced, accompanied by the ministers, the 
marshals, the officers of their houses, cordons hleus, 
cordons rouges. Never since the end of the old 
regime had such a multitude of priests been seen de- 
filing through the streets of Paris. The pupils of 
all the seminaries, the almoners of all the colleges, 
the priests of all the parishes and all the chapels, 
stretched out in an endless double line, at the end 
of which appeared the Nuncio of the Pope, Cardinals 
de Latil, de Croi, and de La Fare, the Archbishop of 
Paris, and a crowd of prelates. After the station of 
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, there was a second at 
Saint-Roch, then a third and last at the Assumption. 



172 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

When the special prayers of the close of the jubilee 
had been said at this last parish, the immense cor- 
tege resumed its march to the place where Louis 
XVI. had brought his head to the sacrilegious scaf- 
fold. The day chosen for the expiatory solemnity 
was the 3d of May, the anniversary of the return of 
Louis XVIII. to Paris in 1814, and then a political 
idea was connected with the religious ceremony. A 
vast pavilion surmounted by a cross hung with dra- 
peries in violet velvet, and enclosing an altar, which 
was reached on four sides by four stairways of ten 
steps each, occupied the very place where, the 10th 
of January, 1793, the scaffold of the Martyr-King 
had been erected, in the middle of the Place called 
successively the Place Louis XV. and the Place de 
La Concorde, and which was thenceforth to be called 
the Place Louis XVI. 

The account in the Moniteur says : — 

" A first salvo of artillery announced the arrival of 
the procession. It presented as imposing a tableau 
as could be contemplated. This old French nation 
— the heir of its sixty kings at the head — marched, 
preceded by the gifts made by Charlemagne to the 
Church of Paris, and the religious trophies that Saint 
Louis brought from the holy places. The priests 
ascend to the altar. Three times in succession they 
raise to heaven the cry for pardon and pity. All the 
spectators fall upon their knees. A profound, abso- 
lute silence reigns about the altar and over all the 
Place ; a common sorrow overwhelms the people ; the 
King's eyes are filled with tears." 



THE JUBILEE OF 18^6 173 

In this multitude the absence of the Dauphiness, 
the daughter of Louis XYI., is remarked. The Or- 
phan of the Temple had made it a law for herself 
never to cross the place where her father had per- 
ished. She went to the expiatory chapel of the Rue 
d'Anjou-Saint-Honore, to pass in prayer the time of 
the ceremony. 

M. de Vaulabelle makes this curious compari- 
son: — 

"Behind Charles X. there knelt his Grand Cham- 
berlain, Prince Talleyrand, covered with gleaming 
embroideries, orders, and cordons. It was the eccle- 
siastical dignitary whom Paris had beheld celebrating 
the Mass of the Federation on the Champ-de-Mars, 
the wedded prelate who, as Minister of the Directory, 
had for some years observed as a national festival the 
anniversary of this same execution, now the subject 
of so many tears." 

Religious people rejoiced at the ceremony that was 
celebrated; but the Voltairians and the enemies of 
royalty complained bitterly at the sight of the quays, 
the streets, the squares of the capital furrowed by 
long files of priests, chanting psalms and litanies, 
dragging devout in their suite the King, the two 
Chambers, the judiciary, the administration, and the 
army. Yet was it not just that Charles X. should 
cause an expiatory ceremony to be celebrated at the 
place where his unfortunate brother had been guil- 
lotined? Was not that for a pious sovereign the 
accomplishment of a sacred duty? It matters not; 



174 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 



there were those who reproached him with this hom- 
age to the most memorable of misfortunes. They 
would have forbidden to Charles X. the memory of 
Louis XVI. Yet a king could hardly be asked to 
have the sentiments of a conventionnel, of a regicide. 
In their systematic and bitter opposition, the adver- 
' saries of the Restoration imputed to the royal family 
as a crime its very virtues and its piety. 

Charles X. was not unaware of this half-expressed 
hostility. That evening he wrote to M. Villele, 
President of the Council of Ministers : — 

" In general I have been content with the ceremony 
and the appearance of the people ; but I wish to know 
the whole truth, and I charge you to see M. Delavau, 
and to know from him if the reality corresponds to 
appearances, if there was any talk against the govern- 
ment and the clergy. I wish to know all, and I trust 
to you to leave me in ignorance of nothing." 

M. de Yill^le was not a flatterer. He responded 
discreetly, but without concealing the truth : — 

"The aspect of the people," he wrote, "permitted 
the thoughts agitating its spirit to be recognized. 
We were following the King at a slight distance and 
could judge very well of it. It was easy to read in 
all eyes that the people were hurt at seeing the King 
humbly following the priests. There was in that 
not so much irreligion as jealousy and animosity 
toward the r61e played by the clergy." 

It might have been asked, in these circumstances, 
whether the criticisms of the opposition were just. 



THE JUBILEE OF 18S6 175 



If a ceremony was to be observed, such as the laying 
and blessing the corner-stone of an expiatory monu- 
ment, it must be religious. If it were religious, was 
not tlie presence of the clergy in large numbers 

natural ? 

At heart, there was something noble and touching 
in the thought of Charles X., and the true royalists 
sincerely respected it. From the monarchical point 
of view, a monument to Louis XVI. had much more 
raison d'Stre than the obelisk since erected in its 
place, which represents nothing, and has, moreover, 
the inconvenience of obstructing the fine perspective 
of the Champs Elys^es and the Tuileries. But there 
were two camps in France, and these processions, 
expiations, prayers, which, according to the royalist 
journals, opened a new era of sanctity, glory, and 
virtue, exasperated the Voltairians. The opposition 
determined to make of the King's piety a weapon 
against royalty. 

And yet, we repeat, this piety had nothing about 
it not worthy of respect. As the Abb^ V^drenne re- 
marks in his Fie de Charles X, this Prince "had a 
perfect understanding of the duties and convenances 
of his rank, never refused his presence at fetes where 
it was desirable, never seemed to^ blame or fear what 
a sensible indulgence did not condemn ; he loved the 
charm of society, and increased it by his kindliness, 
but he was not dazzled by it. He remained to the 
end the most amiable prince in Europe, but he was 
also the severest: A surprising thing in a convert, 



1T6 TBE DUCBESS OF BEltBT 

Ms religion was always full of true charity for others. 
He excused those who neglected their Christian 
duties, remembering his delay in practising his own, 
without ever compromising his own beliefs. He 
sincerely respected the good faith of those who did 
not share them. This faith, this piety — a legacy 
from love — which he guarded so faithfully, was the 
consolation of his long misfortunes and the principle 
of his unchanging serenity. It banished even the 
idea of hatred from his heart. Never did any one 
forgive as he did." 

It must not be forgotten that the pamphleteers and 
song-writers of the Restoration, violent, unjust, and 
even cruel as they were toward Charles X., never 
breathed an insinuation against the purity of his 
morals. His life was not less exemplary than that 
of his son, the Dauphin, or of his niece and daughter- 
in-law, the Orphan of the Temple. Despite the great 
piety of the sovereign, the court was not melancholy 
or morose. Charles X. had a foundation of benevo- 
lence and gaiety to his character. He was not sur- 
prised to see committed . about him the gentle 
k-espasses of love, of which he had been himself 
guilty in youth, and he had become — ■ the very ideal 
of wisdom — severe for himself, indulgent for others. 



XVIII 

THE DUOHKSS OF GOHTATJT 

THE Governess of the Children of France was 
the Viscountess of Gontaut, who, as a recom- 
pense for the manner in which she had accomplished 
her task, was made Duchess by Charles X. in 1826. 
Here is the opening of her unpublished Memoirs: — 
"January, 1853. To Madame the Countess and 
Monsieur the Count Georges Esterhazy. My dear 
children, you have shown a desire to know the events 
of my long life. Wishing to teach them to your 
children, I yield to this amiable and tender purpose, 
promising myself, meanwhile, to resist the too com- 
mon charm of talking pitilessly about myself. I shall 
search my memory for souvenirs of the revolutions 
I have often witnessed to give interest to my tales. 
One writes but ill at eighty, but one may claim 
indulgence from hearts to which one is devoted." 

The amiable and intelligent octogenarian had no 
need of indulgence. Her Memoirs possess irresisti- 
ble attraction, grace, exquisite naturalness, and we 
are convinced that when they are published -as 
they must be sooner or later -they will excite uni- 
versal interest. 

177 



178 TBE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

Born at Paris in 1773, the Duchess of Gontaut was 
the daughter of Count Montault-Navailles and of the 
Countess, nee Coulommiers. All her memories of 
childhood and early youth were connected with the 
old court. She had seen Marie Antoinette in all her 
splendor, Versailles when it was most dazzling, and 
she was formed in the elegant manners of that charm- 
ing world whose social prestige was so great. At 
seven she was held at the baptismal font by the Count 
of Provence (the future Louis XVIII.) and by the 
wife of this Prince. 

"I had for this ceremony," she says, "a grand 
hahit and a grand panier. I was so proud of them 
that I caused much amusement at the Queen's, 
whither my mother took me after the baptism. 
Being connected with the Duchess of Polignac, she 
often took me to Versailles; there I saw Madame 
Royale, younger than I, and the poor, little, hand- 
some, delightful Dauphin. The Queen, wishing to 
give them a little fete, organized a children's spec- 
tacle, in which I was entrusted with a part. The 
piece chosen was IpMgSnie en Aulide, Mademoiselle 
de Sabran and her brother, as well as a young Stro- 
gonoff, were, it is said, perfect actors. Armand de 
Polignac had a little part. Tragedy was not my 
forte. But in the second piece I achieved a little 
success, which the Chevalier de Boufflers was kind 
enough to celebrate in a very bright couplet, sung at 
the close. He gave me the name of the Little White 
Mouse. After that the Queen called me her little 



THE DUCHESS OF GONTAUT 179 

white mouse, and showed me a thousand kindnesses. 
After the play there was a children's supper; the 
princes waited on us and were much diverted by our 
enjoyment; Louis XVI. stood behind my chair for 
a moment, and even gave me a plate. The Queen 
sent me home in her sedan chair; footmen carried 
great torches ; the body-guard presented arms to us. 
So much honor would, perhaps, have turned my 
head, but for my prudent mother who knew how to 
calm it." 

The sorrows of exile followed rapidly on the first 
enchantments of life. It was in England, during 
the Emigration, that the future Governess of the 
Children of France married M. de Saint-Blanchard, 
Viscount de Gontaut-Biron. She was then residing 
at Epsom, where she lived on the proceeds of little 
pictures which she painted. She gave birth to twin 
daughters October 9th, 1796. "I nursed them 
both," she says, "our means not permitting us to 
have two nurses in one little household, and I felt 
strong enough for this double task. Brought into 
the world at seven and one-half months, their frail 
existence required my care night and day." In 1797, 
Madame de Gontaut visited Paris under a false 
name, and after this journey, on which she ran many 
risks, she returned to England, where she was the 
companion in exile of the princes. Monsieur, the 
Count d'Artois, the future Charles X., was then 
pursued by his creditors. The Castle of Holyrood, 
privileged by law, sheltered its occupants from all 



180 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

legal process. That is why the Prince Regent offered 
its hospitality to the brother of Louis XVIII., seek- 
ing in every way to soften the severity of the old 
palace. 

"But the saying is true," adds Madame de Gon- 
taut, "that there are no pleasant prisons. The Cas- 
tle of Holyrood, as well as the park, was spacious. 
The governor visited there, and also several Scotch 
families, very agreeable socially. Monsieur could 
not 'leave the limits ' except on Sunday, when the 
law allows no arrest. He had a carriage that he 
loaned to us, reserving it only for Sunday, when he 
was out from morning to night. To these excellent 
Scotch people a visit from him was an honor, a fes- 
tival. Our little society comedies amused Monsieur 
as much as us ; I always had, unluckily, a part that 
I never knew; I could never in my life learn any- 
thing by heart ; I listened, filled my mind with the 
subject, and went ahead, to the great amusement of 
the audience and the despair of my fellow-players." 
After a while the suits against the Prince came to 
an end, and he could quit Holyrood, his debtor's 
prison. 

Madame de Gontaut made a very good figure at 
Louis XVIII. 's little court at Hartwell. By her 
wit and her tact, she won the friendship of all the 
royal family, and much sympathy in high English 
society. She returned to France with Louis XVIIL, 
and no lady of the court was regarded with greater 
respect. At the time of the marriage of the Duke of 



THE DUCHESS OF GONTAUT 181 



Berry, she became lady companion to the new Duch- 
ess, whom she went to meet at Marseilles. 

The King, Monsieur, the Duke and Duchess of 
Berry, all showed equal confidence in Madame de 
Gontaut, and her nomination as Governess of the 
Children of France was received with general ap- 
proval and sympathy. A woman of mind and heart, 
she performed her task with as much zeal as intelli- 
gence, and though strict with her two pupils, she 
made herself beloved by them. She especially applied 
herself to guard them against the snares of flattery. 
On this subject she relates a characteristic anecdote. 
One day a family that had been recommended to her 
asked the favor of seeing, if only for a moment, the 
Duke of Bordeaux and his sister. The two children, 
vexed at having to leave their play, were not commu- 
nicative, and nevertheless received an avalanche of 
compliments. The visitors were in ecstasy over their 
gentleness, their beauty. They admired even their 
hair. These exaggerations embarrassed the children, 
who were full of frankness and directness, and dis- 
pleased Madame de Gontaut. She quickly closed the 
interview. As the visitors were going out, a half- 
open door allowed the little Prince and Princess to 
overhear their observations. "It was not worth 
while to come so far to see so little," said an old 
lady, in an irritated tone. " Oh, as to that, no," said 
a big boy, " they hardly had two words of response for 
all the compliments that papa and mamma strained 
themselves to give them. You made me laugh. 



18^ 



THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 



papa, when you said, 'What fine color, what pretty- 
hair! ' She's as pale as an egg and cropped like a 
boy." — " That's true," said the old lady, " she needs 
your medicines, doctor ; and then they are very small 
for their age." — "Did you see the governess?" re- 
sumed the big boy. " She did not seem pleased when 
you complimented her on the docility of her pupils, 
and I could see that they were teasing each other." 
The Duke of Bordeaux and his sister, who heard 
all this, were petrified. "They are very wicked!" 
they cried. "They are simply flatterers," replied 
Madame de Gontaut. Little Mademoiselle resumed: 
"After having praised us without end, and telling 
us a hundred times that we were pretty, — for I 
heard it all perfectly, — to want to give me medicine 
because I was so homely and ill-looking! Oh, this 
is too much ! I know now v/hat flattery is, — to say 
just the contrary of the truth. But it's a sin. I 
shall always remember it! " 

Madame de Gontaut succeeded beyond her hopes 
in the task confided to her. Morally and physically 
the little Prince and Princess were accomplished 
children. 

The moment was approaching when the Duke of 
Bordeaux, born September 20, 1820, was about to 
begin his seventh year. That was the period fixed 
by the ancient code of the House of France for the 
young Prince to pass from the hands of women to 
those of men, who were thereafter to direct his edu- 
cation. On the 15th of October, 1826, the transfer 






THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX AND HIS SISTER. 



THE DUCHESS OF GONTAUT 183 



was made of the Duke of Bordeaux to his governor, 
the Duke de Riviere, at the Chateau of Saint Cloud, 
in the Hall of the Throne, in the presence of all the" 
members of the family, the first officers of the croAvn, 
etc. The child, brought by his governess before the 
King, was stripped of his clothing and examined by 
the physicians, who attested his perfect health. 
When he was clad again, the King called the new 
governor and said to him: "Duke de Riviere, I give 
you a great proof of my esteem and confidence in 
remitting to you the care of the child given us by 
Providence — the Child of France also. You will 
bring to these important functions, I am sure, a zeal 
and a prudence that will give you the right to my 
gratitude, to that of the family, and to that of 
France." 

Charles X. then turned to Madame de Gontaut, 
whom he had just named Duchess in witness of his 
gratitude and satisfaction. "Duchess of Gontaut," 
he said, " I thank you for the care you have given to 
the education of this dear child." Then, pointing 
to Mademoiselle, " Continue and complete that of this 
child, who is just as dear to me, and you will acquire 
new claims on my gratitude." The little Princess 
then seized the hands of her governess with such effu- 
sion that the latter could hardly restrain her tears. 

That evening the Duchess of Gontaut addressed to 
the Duke de Riviere a letter in which she depicted 
the character of the child she had brought up with 
such care ; — 



184 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

" I have always followed the impulses of my heart," 
she wrote, "in easily performing a task for which 
that was all that was needed. Monseigneur and 
Mademoiselle believe me blindly, for I have never 
deceived them, even in jest. A pleasantry that a 
child's mind cannot understand embarrasses him, 
destroys his ease and confidence, humiliates and even 
angers him, if he believes that he has been deceived. 
Monseigneur has more need than most children of 
this discretion. The directness and generosity of 
his character incline him to take everything seriously. 
When he thinks he sees that any one is being annoyed, 
the one oppressed straightway becomes the object of 
his lively interest; he will take up his defence 
warmly and will not spare his rebukes ; he shows on 
these occasions an energy quite in contrast with the 
natural timidity of his character. With such a child, 
I have had to avoid even the shadov/ of injustice. He 
loves Mademoiselle, is gentle, kind, attentive to her. 
I have always carefully shunned for Their Royal 
Highnesses the little contests of childhood; however 
unimportant they may seem at first, they end by em- 
bittering the disposition." 

We commend to mothers and teachers the letter of 
the Duchess of Gontaut. It is a veritable programme 
of education, conceived with high intelligence and 
great practical sense. What more just than this re- 
flection : " The method of teaching by amusement is 
fashionable, and appears to me to lead to a very super- 
ficial education. That is not what I have sought. 



THE DUCHESS OF GONTAUT 185 

Let the teacher explain readilj^, but let him allow 
the pupil to take some pains, for he must learn early 
the difficulties of life and how to overcome them. 
A child prince, exposed to flattery, runs the risk of 
thinking himself a prodigy. To obviate this Mon- 
seigneur and Mademoiselle have often been subjected 
to little competitions with children of their age. I 
have sought by this means to give them the habit of 
witnessing success without envy, and to gain it with- 
out vanity." And what a fine and noble thing is 
this. " I have tried on all occasions to lead the mind 
of Monseigneur to the moral teaching of religion ; I 
have used it as a restraint ; I have presented it as 
a hope." 

The Duchess of Gontaut was proud of her pupil : — 
" It will require time," she says, in this same letter, 
"kindness, and tenderness to gain the confidence of 
Monseigneur. His features show his soul ; he talks 
little of what he undergoes ; he has much sensibility, 
but a power over himself remarkable at his age ; I 
have seen him suffer without complaint. The efforts 
that he has made to overcome a timidity that I have 
tried hard to conquer, have been noteworthy. I 
have been able to make him understand the neces- 
sity, for a prince, of addressing strangers in a noble, 
gracious, and intelligible fashion. I have always 
sought to remove all means and all pretext for con- 
cealing his faults; bashfulness leads imperceptibly 
to dissimulation and falsehood. I am happy in af- 
firming that Monseigneur is scrupulously truthful. 



186 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

I have believed it requisite, by reason of the vivacity 
of his disposition, and the high destiny awaiting him, 
to constrain him to reflect before acting. The word 
justice has a real charm for him ; I have never seen 
a heart more loyal." 

The woman who wrote these lines so firm and 
honest, so sensible and forcible, was no ordinary 
woman. In contrast with so many emigrSs who 
had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, she had 
learned much and retained it. The difficulties and 
bitternesses of exile were an excellent school for her. 
She remained French always, — in ideas, tastes, feel- 
ings. Sincerely royalist, but with no exaggeration, 
she took account perfectly of the requirements of 
modern society. Very devoted to her princes, she 
knew how to tell them the truth. She spoke frankly 
to Charles X., whom she had known from an early 
day, and had seen in such diverse situations. 

It is to be regretted that the King did not con- 
sult her oftener. She would have saved him from 
many errors, notably from the fatal ordinances which 
she disapproved. She was a woman not merely of 
heart, but of head. Her Memoirs are the more in- 
teresting, that not the least literary pretension mingles 
with their sincerity. They have a character of inti- 
macy that doubles their charm. This talk of a vener- 
able grandmother with her grandchildren is not only 
solid and instructive, it is agreeable and gracious, 
tender and touching^ 



XIX 



THE THEEE GOVEENOES 



IN the space of three years, from 1826 to 1828, 
Charles X. named three governors for the Duke 
of Bordeaux. One, the Duke of Montmorency, never 
entered on his duties. The others were the Duke de 
Riviere and the Baron de Damas. The Duke of 
Montmorency was named in anticipation the 8th of 
January, 1826, although his task did not begin until 
the 29th of September. Mathieu de Montmorency, 
first Viscount and then Duke, was born in 1766. 
After having been through the war in America, he 
had adopted the ideas of Lafayette, and had been dis- 
tinguished by his extreme liberalism. He took the 
oath of the Jeu de Faume, and was the first to give up 
the privileges derived from his birth on the celebrated 
night of the 4th of August. The 12th of July, 1791, 
he was one of the deputation that attended the solemn 
transfer of the ashes of Voltaire, and, August 27th, 
he sustained the proposition to decree the honors of 
the Pantheon to Jean Jacques Rousseau. In his 
Fetit Almmiach des G-rands Eommes de la Revolution^ 
Rivarol wrote, not without irony : — 

" The most youthful talent of the Assembly, he is 

187 



188 THE DUCHESS OF BERET 

still stammering his patriotism, but he already man- 
ages to make it understood, and the Republic sees 
in him all it wishes to see. It was necessary that 
Montmorency should appear popular for the Revo- 
lution to be complete, and a child alone could set 
this great example. The little Montmorency there- 
fore devoted himself to the esteem of the moment, 
and combated aristocracy under the ferrule of the 
Abbd Siey^s." 

Mathieu de Montmorency did not adhere to his 
revolutionary ideas. After the 10th of August, 1792, 
he withdrew to Switzerland, at Coppet, near his 
friend Madame de Stael. Under the Empire he held 
himself apart. He had become as conservative as he 
had been liberal, as religious as he had been Voltair- 
ian. Under the Restoration, he was one of the most 
convinced supporters of the throne and the altar. 
Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1821, he showed him- 
self a distinguished diplomat, and during the session 
of 1822 made the amende honorable for what he 
called his former errors. 

As he had always been sincere in his successive 
opinions, the Duke of Montmorency deserved general 
esteem. His profound piety, his unchanging gentle- 
ness, his exhaustless charity, made him a veritable 
saint. He was the complete type of the Christian 
nobleman. His name, his character, the very feat- 
ures of his countenance, were all in perfect harmony. 
The adversaries of the Revolution could not refrain 
from honoring this good man. On receiving the 



THE THBEE GOVEBNOBS 189 

title of goveraor to the Duke of Bordeaux, he felt 
rewarded for the deyotion and virtue of his whole 
life But he regarded this grave employment as a 
heavy burden, "an immense and formidable honor, 
the terror of his feebleness, and the perpetual occu- 
pation of his conscience." This was the thought 
Lpressed in his reception discourse at the French 
Academy. The Count Dam replied to him. At the 
same session M. de Chateaubriand read a historic 
fragment. It was the first time since leaving the 
ministry that the celebrated writer had appeared in 
public, and he chose to do so to adorn the triumph 
of him whose rival he had been. _ 

The Duke Mathieu de Montmorency died six 
months before he was to enter upon his functions as 
governor to the Duke of Bordeaux. It was Good 
Friday of the year 1826, at three o'clock in the after- 
noon Befor; the tomb in the Church of Samt 
Thomas Aquinas, his parish, the Duke was praying 
like a saint, when suddenly he was seen to waver 
and then to fall. Those near him ran to him, raised 
him; he was dead. The news had hardly spread 
when the church was fiUed with a crowd of poor 
people, who wept hot tears over the loss of their bene- 
Ltor. On the morrow the Duchess of Broglie wrote 
to Madame R^camier, for whom the deceased had had 
an almost mystic tenderness : - 

"Holy Saturday. Oh, my God! my God! dear 
friend, what an event! I think of you with 
anguish. All the past comes up before me. I 



190 TBE DUCHESS OF BJEBBY 

thought I could see the grief of my poor mother, and 
I think of yours, my dear friend, which must be 
terrible. But what a beautiful death! Thus he 
would have chosen it — the place, the day, the hour ! 
The hand of God, of that saviour God, whose sacrifice 
he was celebrating, is here ! " 

Father Macarthy said, in a sermon preached in the 
Chapel of the Tuileries : — 

"Happy he, O God, who comes before Thy 
altar, on the day of Thy death, at the very hour 
when Thou didst expire for the salvation of the 
world, to breathe out his soul at Thy feet, and be 
laid in Thy tomb ! " 

Lastly, the Duke de Laval-Montmorency wrote to 
Madame Recamier: — 

" I say it to you, my dear friend, I avow it without 
false modesty, I never have had any merit or any 
honor in life, save from action in common with my 
angelic friend. He alone is happy; he is so beyond 
doubt ; from heaven he sees our tears, our desolation, 
our homage ; he will be our protector on high as he 
was our friend, our support, upon the earth." 

The death of the virtuous Duke caused Charles X. 
great grief. He said ; " There are in me two persons, 
the king and the man, and I know not which is the 
most affected." 

M. de Chateaubriand desired — and the desire was 
quite natural — to replace the Duke of Montmorency 
in the office of governor of the Duke of Bordeaux, 
but the wish was not gratified. In his Life of Henri/ 



THE THREE GOVERN OB 8 191 

of France^ M. de P^ne makes the following reflections 
on this point : — 

" Chateaubriand lacked neither the knowledge nor 
the virtue to be the F^nelon of a new Duke of Bur- 
gundy. The eclat of his literary renown, the political 
sense of which he had given proof in the Spanish war, 
the popularity that surrounded him, were certainly 
arguments in his favor. But looking at things coolly, 
it was clear that an irregular genius was not suited 
for the part of Mentor, when he still had all the way- 
ward impulses of Tdl^maque." 

The choice of Charles X. fell on one of his oldest 
and most faithful friends, the Lieutenant-General 
Duke Charles de Riviere. He was a soldier of great 
valor, of gentle disposition, full of modesty and kind- 
ness, believing devoutly and practising the Christian 
religion, a descendant of those old knights who joined 
in one love, God, France, and the King. 

Born the 17th of December, 1763, M. de Riviere 
had been the companion and servitor of the princes 
in exile and misfortune, and they had confided to 
him the most difficult and dangerous missions. He 
was secretly in France in 1794, and was arrested and 
condemned to death as implicated in the Cadoudal 
case. At his trial, he was shown, at a distance, 
the portrait of the Count d'Artois, and asked if he 
recognized it. He asked to see it nearer, and then 
having it in his hands, he said, looking at the presi- 
dent : " Do you suppose that even from afar I did not 
recognize it? But I wished to see it nearer once 



192 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 



more before I die." And the martyr of royalty relig- 
iously kissed the image of his dear prince. 

Josephine intervened, and secured the commuta- 
tion of the sentence, as well as that of the Duke 
Armand de Polignac. Napoleon, who admired men 
of force, caused to be offered to M. de Riviere his 
complete pardon, and a regiment or a diplomatic post, 
at choice. The inflexible royalist preferred to be 
sent to the fort of Joux, where Toussaint Louverture 
had died, and remained a prisoner up to the time of 
the marriage of the Empress Marie Louise. 

Under the Restoration, M. de Riviere, who was 
Marquis and was made Duke only in 1825, became 
lieutenant-general. Peer of France, ambassador at 
Constantinople, captain of the body-guards of Mon- 
sieur. At the time of his accession, Charles X. did 
for his faithful servitor what had never before been 
done; he created for him a fifth company of the 
King's body-guards. "My dear Riviere," he said, 
" I have done my best for you, but we shall both lose 
by it ; you used to guard me all the time, now you 
can guard me but three months in the year." The 
30th of May, 1825, the morrow of the coronation and 
the day of the reception of the Knights of the Holy 
Spirit, Charles X. conferred the title of duke on his 
devoted friend. "By the way. Riviere, I have made 
you a duke." It recalled the words of Henry IV. 
to Sully in like circumstances. 

When he chose the Duke de Riviere as governor 
of the Duke of Bordeaux, the King said to Madame 



TEE THBEE GOVERJSfOBS 193 

de Gontaut : " In naming Riviere, I have followed, 
I confess, the inclinations of my heart ; I am under 
obligations to him ; he has incessantly exposed him- 
self for our cause ; he has borne captivity, poverty ; I 
love him, and I am used to him." 

The new governor, who was very modest, was 
frightened at the task confided to him. 

" You congratulate me," he wrote to a friend ; 
"console me, rather, pity me. An employment so 
grave must be a heavy burden. I am easy about the 
instruction my royal pupil will receive ; the wise 
prelate named by the King as his preceptor will be 
a powerful auxiliary for me. But my share is still too 
great. It requires something more than fidelity for 
such a place, • — firmness without roughness, unlimited 
patience, address, intelligence. I am frightened at the 
mission I have to fill. I begged the King to release 
me. He insisted. I asked him to make it a com- 
mand; he replied: 'I will not command you, but 
you will give me great pleasure.' I did not conceal 
from the King that I should have preferred to remain 
captain of his guards ; he answered : ' Well, you 
made that place for yourself; make this for me.' 
How could one resist such language from the lips of 
such a prince ? There was but one choice to make, 
— to do all that he wished." 

Charles X. named as sub-governors two distin- 
guished military men, the Colonel Marquis de Bar- 
bangois and the Lieutenant-Colonel Count de Maupas. 
He named as preceptor Mgr. Tharin, Bishop of Stras- 



194 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

bourg, and as sub-preceptor the Abb^ Martin de Noir- 
lieu and M. de Barande. The Bishop of Strasbourg 
was a pious and learned priest, of great benevolence 
and extreme affability. But his appointment exasper- 
ated the Opposition, because he had formerly taken 
up the defence of the Order of the Jesuits against the 
attacks of M. de Montlosier. All the liberal sheets 
cried aloud. Le Journal des Debats, furious that its 
candidate to the succession of the Duke de Montmo- 
rency, M. de Chateaubriand, had not been named, 
wrote, regarding the appointment of Mgr. Tharin : — 

" Such imprudence amazes, such blindness is pitia- 
ble. It awakens profound grief to see this chariot 
rush toward the abyss with no power to restrain it." 

The Duke de Riviere gave himself up entirely to 
the task confided to him. He never quitted the young 
prince. He slept in his room and v/atched over him 
night and day. In the month of February, 1828, he 
fell ill. The princes and princesses visited him fre- 
quently. The sovereign himself, putting aside for 
this faithful friend the etiquette which forbade him to 
visit any one out of his own family, went constantly 
to see him and remained long with him. The Duke 
had no greater consolation, after that of his religion, 
than the visit of his King. He said to his family as 
the hour of the expected visit approached, " Do not 
let me sleep," and if he felt himself getting drowsy, 
" For pity's sake," he said, " awaken me if the King 
comes ; it is the best remedy for my pains." Charles 
X. could hardly restrain his tears; on leaving the 



TBH TBBEE GOVEBNOBS 195 

room he gave way to his grief. The little Duke of 
Bordeaux, also, was much saddened. 

One day, when he was told that the sick man had 
passed a bad night, he said to his^sister : " Let's play 
plays that don't amuse us to-day." 

Another day, when it was reported that his gov- 
ernor was a little better: "In that case," he cried, 
"general illumination," and he went in broad day, 
and lighted all the candles in the salon. The Duke 
de RiviSre died the 21st of April, 1828 ; by order of 
the King, his son lived from that time with the Duke 
of Bordeaux, and received lessons from the precep- 
tors of the young Prince. 

The Liberals wished the successor of the Duke to 

be one of their choice. They maintained that the 

son of France belonged to the nation, and that it had 

too much interest in his education to permit the 

parents alone to dispose of it, as in ordinary families. 

The ministry wished to be consulted. Charles X. 

replied that he took counsel with his ministers m all 

that concerned the public administration, but that he 

should maintain his liberty as father of a family m 

the choice of masters for his grandson. 

The King named the Lieutenant-General Baron de 
Damas (bom in 1T85, died in 1858). He was a brave 
soldier and a good Christian. M. de Lamartine said 
that he had " integrity, obstinate industry, virtue in- 
corruptible by the air of courts, patriotic purpose, 
cool impartiality, but no presence and no brilliancy, 
and that "his piety was as loyal and disinterested as 



196 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

his heart." He had been Minister of War, and of 
For-eign Affairs, and distinguished himself under the 
Duke of Angouleme, during the Spanish Expedition. 
But under the Revolution and the Empire, he had 
served in the Russian army, and this did not render 
him popular. The Abb^ Vddrenne, in his Vie de 
Charles JT., wrote : — 

" To watch over the person of the son of France, 
not quitting him night or day ; to make sure that the 
rules of his education are followed in the employment 
of his time, in the routine of his lessons ; to let no 
one save persons worthy of confidence come near 
him ; to ward off all dangers, and notify the King of 
the least indisposition, — such is the duty of the gov- 
ernor. It requires more prudence than learning, 
more probity than genius. M. de Damas was a 
royalist too tried, too fervent a Christian, for his 
nomination not to provoke many murmurs. His 
place, moreover, had been desired by so many people, 
that there was no lack of those who were displeased 
and jealous. There was a general outcry over his 
incapacity and ignorance. One would have thought 
that he was to perform the task of a Bossuet and a 
F^nelon, while in reality he filled the place of a Mon- 
tausier or a Beauvilliers. Had he not their virtues, 
and especially their devotion ? " 

The Duchess of Gontaut thus relates the first in- 
terview of the young Prince with his new governor: 
" Monseigneur was a little intimidated, when the 
Baron, coming up near to him, made a profound bow, 



THE THREE GOVERNORS 197 

and said : ' Monseigneur, I commend myself to you.' 
To which Monseigneur, not knowing what to say, 
said nothing, and as no one spake a word, the King 
dismissed us. When the Duke of Bordeaux learned 
that M. de Damas had six or seven boys nearly his 
age and only one girl, and that the girl would not be 
any trouble, his gaiety returned." The little Prince 
got used to his new governor, who had the most solid 
qualities, and who performed his task with the same 
devotion and zeal as his predecessor. 



XX 

THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD 

CHARLES X. was always much beloved by the 
court, but less so by the city. In vain, in his 
promenades, he sought the salutations of the crowd, 
and exerted himself by his affability to provoke 
acclamations; the public remained cold, and the 
monarch returned to the Tuileries, saddened by a 
change in his reception which he charged to the 
tactics of the liberal party and the calumnies of the 
journals. The anti-religious opposition went on 
increasing, and tried to persuade the crowd that the 
King was aiming at nothing less than placing his 
kingdom under the direction of the Jesuits. 

The person of the sovereign was still respected, 
but the men who had his confidence were the object 
of the most violent criticisms. A coalition of the 
Extremists and the Left fought savagely against the 
Yillele ministry, which was reproached particularly 
for its long duration. 

From 1827, Orleansism, which Charles X. did not 

even suspect, existed in a latent state, and sagacious 

observers could perceive the dangers of the near 

future. A review of the National Guard of Paris 

was a forerunner of them. 
198 



TBE BEVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD 199 



Each year the 12th of April, the anniversary of the 
re-entrance of Monsieur to Paris in 1814, the National 
Guard alone was on duty at the Tuileries. This 
privilege was looked upon as the reward of the devo- 
tion it had then shown to the Prince, whose sole 
armed force it was for several weeks. In 1827, the 
12th of April fell on Holy Thursday, a day given over 
wholly by the sovereign to his religious duties. In 
consequence, he decided that the day of exceptional 
service reserved to the National Guard should be 
postponed to Monday, the 16th. The morning of 
that day, detachments from all the legions, includ- 
ing the cavalry, assembled in the court of the 
Chateau, and were received by Charles X. He 
received a warm welcome, such as he had not been 
used to for a long time, and the crowd joined its 
shouts to the huzzas of the Guard. Charles X., 
filled with delight, said to the officers who joined 
him as the troops filed by : "I regret that the entire 
National Guard is not assembled for the review." 
Then the officers replied that their comrades would 
be only too happy if the King would consent to re- 
view the whole Guard. Marshal Oudinot, Duke of 
Reggio, who was the commandant-in-chief, warmly 
supported this desire, and the sovereign responded 
by promising for April 29 the review thus urged. 

Charles X. believed he had returned to the pleasant 
time of his popularity. He wished to confirm it by 
withdrawing a law as to the press, proposed in the 
Chambers, md which, though called by the ultras a 



200 TEE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

" law of love and justice," encountered bitter opposi- 
tion even in the Chamber of Peers. The law was 
withdrawn April 17, the very day that the Moniteur 
announced the promise given the day before for the 
review of the 29th. On learning of the withdrawal of 
the unpopular law, the liberals uttered cries of joy 
and triumph. Columns of working printers traversed 
the streets with cries of " Long live the King ! Long 
live the Chamber of Peers ! Long live the liberty of 
the press ! " In the evening Paris was illuminated. 
A victory over a foreign foe would not have been 
celebrated with greater transports of enthusiasm. 
The ministry was disquieted by these wild manifes- 
tations of delight, which, in reality, were directed 
against it. It tried in vain to induce the King to 
countermand the review of the 29th. M. de Chateau- 
briand wrote to Charles X. a long letter to beg him 
to change his ministry. It contained the following 
passage : — 

" Sire, it is false that there is, as is said, a repub- 
lican faction at present, but it is true that there are 
partisans of an illegitimate monarchy; now these 
latter are too adroit not to profit by the occasion, and 
mingle their voices on the 29th with that of France, 
to impose on the nation. What will the King do ^ 
Vfill he surrender his ministers to the popular 
demand? That would be to destroy the power of 
the State. Will he keep his ministers? They will 
cause all the unpopularity that pursues them to fall 
on the head of their august master." 



THE BEVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD 201 



Chateaubriand closed as follows : — 
" Sire, to dare to write you this letter, I must be 
strongly persuaded of the necessity of reaching a 
decision. An imperative duty must urge me. The 
ministers are my enemies. As a Christian I forgive 
them, as a man I can never pardon them. In this 
position I should never have addressed the King, if 
the safety of the monarchy were not involved." 

All this urging was futile. Charles X. did not 
change his ministry, and the review took place on the 
Champ-de-Mars on the day appointed. 

It is Sunday, April 29th, 1827. The weather is 
magnificent. The springtime sun gives to the capital 
a festive air. All the people are out. The twelve 
legions and the mounted guards — more than twenty 
thousand men — are under arms awaiting the King 
on the Champ-de-Mars. An enormous crowd occu- 
pies the slope. At one o'clock precisely, Charles X., 
mounted on a beautiful horse, which he manages 
like a skilled horseman, leaves the Tuileries with a 
numerous escort, including the Dauphin, the Duke 
of Orleans, the young Duke of Chartres, and a num- 
ber of generals. The princesses follow in an open 
caliche. Everything appears to be going perfectly. 
The National Guards have pledged themselves to 
satisfy the King by their conduct. A note has been 
read in the ranks in these words : " Caution to the 
National Guards, to be circulated to the very last 
file. The rumor is spread that the National Guards 
intend to cry 'Down with the ministers I Down 



202 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

with the Jesuits ! ' Only mischief-makers can wish 
to see the National Guard abandon its noble char- 
acter." 

A general movement of curiosity on the Champ- 
de-Mars is noticed. Charles X. arrives. He has a 
serene brow, a smile upon his lips. It hardly seems 
possible that before the end of the year he will be a 
septuagenarian; he would be taken for a man of 
fifty, powdered. An immense cry of " Long live the 
King," raised by the National Guards, is repeated 
by the crowd. The monarch, radiant, salutes with 
glance and hand. 

He passes along the front of the battalions. Here 
and there are heard cries of " Hurrah for the Char- 
ter ! Hurrah for liberty of the press ! " But they 
are drowned by those of " Long live the King ! " 
Everything seems to go as he wishes, and Charles X. 
feels that the review, which his timid ministers 
regarded as dangerous, is an inspiration. So far it is 
for him only a triumph. But suddenly, as he appears 
in front of the Seventh Legion, he remarks the per- 
sistence with which a group of the Guards is crjdng, 
" Hurrah for the Charter ! " The monarch perceives 
a sentiment of unfriendliness. A National Guards- 
man ventures to speak : — 

"Does Your Majesty think that cheers for the 
Charter are an outrage ? " — " Gentlemen," responds 
the King in a severe tone, "I came here to receive 
homage, not a lesson." The royal pride of this re- 
sponse had a good effect. The cries of " Long live 



THE BEVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD 203 



the King ! " are renewed with energy. The face of 
Charles X. again becomes calm and serene. Seated 
in his saddle before the Military School, the sovereign 
sees file by the twelve legions, with unanimous 
cheers. The review closed, the King says to Mar- 
shal Oudinot, commandant-in-chief of the National 
Guard : " It might have passed off better ; there were 
some mar-plots, but the mass is good, and on the 
whole, I am satisfied." 

The Marshal asks, if, in the order of the day he 
may mention the satisfaction of the King. " Yes," 
replied Charles X., "but I wish to know the terms 
in which this sentiment is expressed." 

The sovereign returns on horseback to the Tuile- 
ries, while each legion goes to its own quarter. 
When he arrives at the Pavilion de I'liorloge, he is 
received by his two grandchildren. Mademoiselle 
throws herself upon his neck: '<- Bon-papa, you are 
content, aren't you? " — ''Yes, almost," he answers. 
The Count de Bourbon-Busset, who is in the sover- 
eign's suite, says to the Duchess of Gontaut, his 
mother-in-law, that all has passed ofP well. The 
Duchess of Angouleme, who has just alighted from 
her carriage, as well as the Duchess of Berry, hears 
this phrase ; she cries : " You are not hard to please." 
The two princesses are as agitated as the King is 
calm. At the moment of their "return they have been 
greeted with violent cries of " Down with the minis- 
ters ! Down with the Jesuits ! " It is even said that 
there was a cry of "Down with the Jesuitesses ! " 



204 THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 

The clang of arms rendered these yiolent clamors 
more sinister. The daughter of Louis XVI. and the 
widow of the Duke of Berry believed themselves 
doubly insulted as women and as princesses. The 
Duchess of Angoul^me, with intrepid countenance, 
but deeply irritated, trembled with indignation. It 
seemed to her that the Revolution was being revived. 
The scenes of horror that her uncle Charles X. had 
not beheld, but of which she had been the witness 
and the victim, arose before her again, — the 5th and 
the 6th of October, 1789, the 20th of June, and the 
10th of August, 1792. 

While the Dauphiness gives herself up to the 
gloomiest reflections, the Third Legion of the National 
Guard is passing under the windows of the Minister 
of Finance in the Rue de Rivoli. The minister, M. de 
Villele, has passed the day at the ministry, receiving 
from hour to hour news of the review. The blinds 
of his windows are closed. At the moment when 
the Third Legion files through the street, the band 
ceases to play, the drums stop beating. Cries of fury 
break from the ranks : " Down with the ministers ! 
Down with the Jesuits ! Down with Villele ! " The 
guards brandish their arms ; the officers themselves 
make menacing gestures ; the tumult is at its height. 
M. de Villele, on the inside, follows from window to 
window the march of the legion, and so traverses the 
salons to the apartments occupied by his old mother 
and her family, whom he wishes to reassure by his 
own calm. Opposite the ministry, a great crowd fills 



THE REVIEW OP THE NATIONAL GUARD 205 

the Terrasse des Feuillants, without taking part in 
the manifestation. But the clamors of the National 
Guards increase. They continue their march, enter 
the Rue Castiglione, reach the Place Yend6me, where 
the Ministry of Justice is situated, and recommence 
their cries : " Down with the ministers ! Down with 
the Jesuits ! Down with Peyronnet ! " 

Invited to dine by Count Opponyi, ambassador of 
Austria, with all the ministers, M. de Vill^le waits 
to the last moment before going to the Embassy, still 
believing that he will be summoned by the King. 
As his waiting is in vain, he goes to the house of 
Count Opponyi and takes part in the dinner. At 
dessert, a messenger of Charles X. glides behind his 
chair, and says to him in a low voice : " The King 
charges me to tell you to come to him immediately." 
M. de Yillele takes leave of the ambassadress, and 
sets out for the Tuileries. He finds Charles X. there, 
very calm, quite reassured, and having called him 
only to give expression to his confidence and sym- 
pathy. The minister exerts himself to make the sov- 
ereign see the situation in a very different light. He 
represents the incident of the Minister of Finance as 
secondary, but insists on the facts occurring at the 
Champ-de-Mars, notably the shouts around the car- 
riage of the princesses. " It is a fact," replies the 
King, "I did hear them complain. Well, what do 
you advise me to do ? " The minister responds : " This 
very evening, before the bureaux are closed, dissolve 
the National Guard of Paris ; order the marshal on 



206 TBE BVCBESS OF BJEBBY 

duty near your person, to have the posts held by the 
National Guard occupied at four o'clock in the morn- 
ing by the troops of the line ; to resort to this meas- 
ure of force and justice to forestall the consequences 
of the most audacious attempt at revolution since the 
commencement of your reign. To-morrow, there are 
to arrive at Paris fifteen thousand men to replace the 
fifteen thousand of the actual garrison. It suffices to 
retain these latter, and thirty thousand men will be 
enough to hold the factions in check if they have the 
least intention of rising." — "Very well," resumes 
Charles X.; "go and consult your colleagues, and 
return after the soiree that I shall attend with the 
Duchess of Berry." 

This soiree is a concert given by the Duchess at 
the Tuileries. The music is but little heard. The 
incidents of the review are the subject of all conver- 
sation. The courtiers wonder whether, to please the 
King, they should take a dark or a rose-colored view 
of things. The optimists and pessimists exchange 
impressions. Charles X. seems to lean to the former. 
" Apparently," he says, with his habitual bonhomie, 
" my bad ear has done me a friendly service, and I 
am glad of it, for I protest I heard no insults." 
Plainly it costs the sovereign pain to dismiss the 
National Guard. It gave him so brilliant a welcome 
in 1814. He was its generalissimo under the reign 
of Louis XVIII. He has liked to wear its uniform, 
the blue coat with broad fringes of silver that 
becomes him so well. But the ministers, except the 



THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD 207 

Duke of Doudeauville and M. de Chabrol, pro- 
nounce strongly in favor of disbandment. Their 
idea prevails. After the concert Charles X. signs 
the decree, which appears in the Moniteur on the 
morrow, and is enforced without resistance. " The 
King can do anything ! " cries the Duke de Riviere, 
with enthusiasm; and May 6th M. de Villele 
addresses to the Prince de Polignac, then ambassa- 
dor at London, a letter in which he says: "The dis- 
solution of the National Guard has been a complete 
success ; the bad have been confounded by it, the good 
encouraged. Paris has never been more calm than 
since this act of severity, justice, and vigor." The 
monarchy thinks itself saved \ it is lost. 



XXI 

THE FIEST DISQUIETUDE 

THERE were still great illusions among those 
about Charles X., and the Duchess of Berry 
had not for a single instant an idea that the rights 
of her son could be compromised. They persuaded 
themselves that the Opposition would remain dynastic 
and that the severest crises would end only in a change 
of ministry. Nevertheless, even at the court, the 
more thoughtful began to be anxious, and perceived 
many dark points on the horizon. Certain royalists, 
enlightened by experience of the Emigration and 
Exile, had a presentiment that the Restoration would 
be for them only a halt in the long way of catastrophes 
and sorrow. They mourned the optimist tranquillity 
in which some of the courtiers succeeded in lulling the 
King. There were courageous and faithful servitors 
who, at the risk of displeasing their master and 
losing his good graces, did not recoil from the sad 
obligation of telling him the whole truth. From the 
beginning of his reign, Charles X. heard useful warn- 
ings, and later he blamed himself for not having 
listened better to them. This justice, however, must 
be done him, that if he had not the wisdom to profit 
208 



THE FIE8T DISQUIETUDE 209 

by such counsels, he never was offended at the men 
of heart who dared to give them to him. 

In this number was the Viscount Sos thanes de La 
Rochefoucauld, son of the Duke of Doudeauville, 
son-in-law of Mathieu de Montmorency, charged with 
the department of the fine arts, at the ministry of 
the King's household. In publishing the reports 
addressed by him to Charles X. from his accession to 
the Revolution of 1830, he writes : — 

" These are respectful and tender warnings of 
which too little account was taken, and which might 
have saved the King and France. I put them down 
here with the gloomy predictions contained in them, 
which have been only too completely realized. They 
are not prophecies after the event. We saw in 
advance the misfortunes of the King, the fall of the 
monarchy, the ruin of legitimacy. Each page, then 
each line, and soon every word of this part of my 
Memoirs will be a cry of alarm : ' God save the 
King ! ' Alas ! He has not saved him. One is 
always wrong if one cannot get a hearing and make 
one's self believed. It is then, with no pride in my 
previsions, but with bitter regret, that I could not 
get them accejjted, that I recall this long monologue 
addressed to Charles X." 

From the beginning of the reign, as he foresaw 
that one day the Chamber would sign the Address of 
the 221, and that M. Laffitte would be the banker of 
the revolution of July, the Viscount wrote to the 
sovereign in December, 1824: — 



210 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



" The King has two things to combat for the glory 
and strength of his rule, the encroachments of the 
Chamber of Deputies, and the power of money in 
Europe. Four bankers could to-day decide war, if 
such was their pleasure. Sovereigns cannot seek too 
earnestly to free themselves from the sceptre which 
is rising above their own. The triumph of moneyed 
men will blight the character and the morals of 
France." 

M. de La Rochefoucauld added (report of Janu- 
ary 31, 1825) this prediction, which shows to what 
length his frankness went in his loyal explanations 
with his King : — 

"We are between two rocks, equally dangerous: 
revoiution with the Duke of Orleans, and ultraism 
with the good Polignac. The by-word now is: 
' These princes will end like the Stuarts.' Madame 

de , who is agitating against the laws now under 

discussion, has said : ' Yes, it's the second throne 
of the Stuarts.' The Left compare the Archbishop 
of Rheims to Father Peters, the restless and ambitious 
confessor of King James. It is not easy for me to 
write thus to the King, and I have assumed a hard 
task in promising myself to conceal nothing from 
him. Sometimes my heart is oppressed and my hand 
stops ; but I question my conscience, which seems 
troubled, and the indispensable necessity of telling 
all to the King, that he may judge in his wisdom, 
decides me to go on." 

How many sagacious warnings given by the brave 



THE FIRST mSQITIETUDJE 211 



courtier, or, better, by the faithful friend, during the 
year 1825, the year of the coronation: "The good 

Madame de M of the Sacred Heart was sajdng 

the other day: 'We had a King with no limbs, and 
with a head ; now we have limbs and no head.' It 
is unheard of, the trouble taken in certain circles to 
make out that the King has no will. The future 
must give to all a complete refutation; the future 
must teach them that the King knows how to dis- 
tinguish those that betray from those that serve him." 
(Report of March 1, 1825). "Does the King wish 
to run the chances of a complete overturning by 
throwing himself into the hands of the ultras ? That 
would be to fall again under the blows of the Revo- 
lution, which counts on these to push the monarchy 
into the abyss always held open at its side." 

From 1825, criticism of the King began. He was 
accused of giving himself up too much to the pleasures 
of the chase. The time was approaching when his 
enemies would say of him — a cruel play on words: 
"He's good for nothing but to hunt," and would 
translate the four letters over the doors of houses 
M. A. C. L. (maison assurSe contre Vincendie) by this 
phrase : Mes amis^ chassons-le. 

The 17th of June, 1825, M. de La Rochefoucauld 

wrote : — 

"I must tell all to the King. I have prevented 
the giving of a play at the Od^on called Bohin des 
Bois (Robin Hood), because it is a nickname crim- 
inally given by the people to him whom they accuse 



212 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

of hunting too often, an accusation very unjust in 
the eyes of those who know that never did a prince 
work more than he to whom allusion is made. When 
the King takes this distraction so necessary to him, 
why hasten to make it known to the public? All 
news comes from the Chateau, and the Constitutionnel 
and the Quotidienne are always the best informed." 

He returned to the same subject October 6 : — 

" I am in despair at seeing the journals recounting 
hunt after hunt. I know the effect that produces. 
I wanted to get at the source of these mischievous 
reports, and M communicated to me confiden- 
tially that these reports came to him from the court, 
and at such length that he always cut them down 
three-fourths. In this case, it is for the King to give 
orders." 

Let us put beside this report the following pas- 
sage from the Memoirs of the Duke of Doudeau- 
ville : — 

" I must justify Charles X. in this passion for the 
chase, so bitterly laid up against him in that time 
when malice and bad faith seized on everything that 
could injure him. Five whole days every week he 
remained in his apartment, busy with affairs of state, 
working with the ministers, examining by himself 
their different reports with a sensitive heart, much 
soul, and more intellect than had been believed; he 
had much reason and a very sound judgment. We 
were often astonished at it in the Council, over which 
he presided, and which he prolonged two, three, four. 



THE FIRST DISQUIETUDE 213 

and five hours, without permitting himself the least 
distraction or showing any sign of weariness. Often, 
in the most difficult discussions, he would open up 
an opinion that no one had conceived, and which, 
full of sagacity, smoothed every difficulty. 

"Twice a week, and often only once, when the 
weather permitted, he went hunting, perhaps gun- 
ning, perhaps coursing. It will be conceded that it 
was a necessary exercise after such assiduous toil 
and occupations so sedentary. 

" I certify that this was the extent of the hunting 
of which calumny, to ruin him, made a crime. Every 
time he went hunting, the Opposition journals did 
not fail to announce it, which persuaded nearly all 
France that he passed all his time in the distractions 
of this amusement." 

The tide of detraction of the sovereign steadily 
rose. The Viscount de La Rochefoucauld perceived 
it clearly. He wrote to the King, 13th October, 
1825 : — 

" The interior of France, as regards commerce, 
agriculture, industry, wealth, offers a most striking 
spectacle. Let Charles X., as King and father, rejoice 
in his work; but let him reflect that the lightest 
sleep would be followed by a terrible awakening." 

The 12th of January, 1826, when his father-in-law, 
the Duke Mathieu de Montmorency, had just been 
named governor to the Duke of Bordeaux, M. de La 
Rochefoucauld again wrote to the King : — • 

"Shall I thank the King for the nomination of 



214 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

M. de Montmorency? Six months ago, it would 
have been useful. To-day, it is merely good. But 
alas, how far is that interesting Prince from the 
crown ! and what shocks and revolutions he must 
traverse first. If ever — God watch over France ; 
the Orleans are making frightful progress." 

The signs of the coming storm accumulated in 
the most alarming manner. Read this other report 
of the Viscount de La Rochefoucauld (August 8, 
1826): — 

"Indifference to religion, hatred of the priests, 
were the symptoms of the Revolution. God grant 
that the same things do not bring the same results. 
The unfortunate priests no longer dare to go through 
the streets; they are everywhere insulted. Three 
days since, a well-dressed man, passing by the sen- 
tinel of the Luxembourg said to him, pointing to a 
priest: ' Never mind; in a year you'll see no more of 
all these wretches.' The poor Curd of Clichy was 
in real danger, surrounded by two or three hundred 
madmen, who cried ; ' Down with the black-hats ! ' 
Every day there is a scene of the same sort." 

The popularity of Charles X., so great at the begin- 
ning of his reign, was dwindling every day at Paris. 
M. de La Rochefoucauld did not fear to declare it to 
him. 

" By what inconceivable fatality is it," he wrote, 
February 6, 1827, "that the king amid all the care 
he takes to ensure the happiness of his people, is 
losing from day to day in their love and affection ? 



THE FIRST DISQUIETUDE 215 



At the play — and it is tliere, to use an expression 
of Napoleon, that the pulse of public opinion is to be 
felt — the most seditious and hostile allusions are 
eagerly caught up. Saturday last, verses, of which 
the sense was that kings who have lost the love of 
their people encounter only silence and coldness, were 
greeted with triple applause and furiously encored." 

The report of May 12, 1827, was like an alarm bell: 

"Circumstances are so grave that the calmest 
minds betray fear regarding them; there are now 
but one opinion and one feeling, — doubt and fear. 
It is said openly, as eight years since : This branch 
cannot keep the crown; it is impossible; who will 
succeed it ? How many things, great Heavens, done 
in eight years ; how many things forgotten ! " 

Exposed to an outpouring of enmities and of 
incessant intrigues, taken between two fires, — the 
extreme Right and the Left, — M. de VillMe no longer 
had the strength to govern. His ministry was about 
to come to an end. Later, in retracing in his journal 
this phase of his career, he wrote : — 

" All that took place was of a feebleness destructive 
of all government, and disheartening for him who 
bears all the responsibility for it, With the weight of 
affairs besides. But he was not, and did not pretend 
to be, the Cardinal Richelieu. He had not his charac- 
ter, nor his ambition, nor his superior gifts. He did 
not even envy them. Had he been quite different 
in this regard, to repress and annul his king, to 
oppress the daughter of Louis XVI. and the widow 



216 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

of the Duke of Berry, to exile from France the new 
Gaston d'Orleans, and his numerous family, to bring 
down the heads of the court pygmies, — more danger- 
ous, perhaps, with their influence over the King and 
his family and their vexatious intrigues in the Court 
of Peers than the Montmorencys and the Cinq-Mars, 
— this was a r61e to which he never aspired and 
would not have accepted." 

Charles X. sacrificed M. de Vill^le, who, however, 
had his sympathy, and replaced him with a liberal 
minister, perhaps with a mental reservation as to a 
ministry, before long, from the extreme Right. The 
retiring minister wished to remain in the Chamber of 
Deputies, to defend his acts. For their part, his 
successors, fearing his influence in that body, wished 
his transfer to the Chamber of Peers, where, in their 
judgment, he would be less dangerous. At the last 
Council of Ministers attended by M. de Villele, the 
King passed to him a note in pencil, announcing that 
he had called him to the peerage. The statesman 
declined, in a note also in pencil. " You wish then 
to impose yourself upon me as minister?" wrote the 
King once more. M. de Villdle appeared moved, and 
passed to the sovereign this response : " The King well 
knows the contrary; but since he can write it, let 
him do with me what he will." The next day the 
Martignac ministry entered on its duties, and the 
Duchess of Angouleme said to Charles X.: "It is 
true, then, that you are letting Villele go? My 
father, you descend to-day the first step of the throne." 



XXII 

THE MAETIGNAC MINISTEY 

MDE MARTIGNAC, who succeeded M. de 
• Villele in the Ministry of the Interior, was 
a man of merit, honest, liberal, and sincerely devoted 
to the King. Born in 1776, at Bordeaux, he was at 
first an advocate at the bar of that city, and at the 
same time made himself known by some witty vaude- 
villes. On the return of the Bourbons, he entered 
the magistracy, became procureur-general at Limoges, 
was elected a deputy in 1821, and distinguished him- 
self in the tribune. He was Minister of the Interior 
from January, 1828, to August, 1829, and his name 
was given to the ministry of which he was a member. 
He had for colleagues enlightened and moderate men, 
such as Count Auguste de La Ferronnays, M. Roy, 
Count Portalis. He tried to reconcile the different 
parties, and to preserve the throne from the double 
danger of reaction and revolution. Taken between 
two fires, the extreme Right and the extreme Left, 
he was destined to fail in his generous effort. 

The royalist sentiment was becoming constantly 
more feeble. The 24th of January, 1828, some days 
after the formation of the Martignac ministry, the 

217 



218 THE DUCHESS OF BEREY 

Viscount Sosthenes de La Rochefoucauld wrote, in a 
report to the King : — 

" In going to Saint-Denis, the 21st of January (the 
anniversary of the death of Louis XVL), and seeing 
the lightness with which the court itself conducted 
itself there, it was impossible for me not to make 
many reflections on the futility of an age in which no 
memory is sacred. And by what right can the people 
be asked to have a better memory when such an 
example is given to them ? No cortege, no coaches 
draped, none of the pomp that strikes the imagination 
and the eye. Some isolated carriages, passing rapidly 
over the route, as if every one longed to be more 
promptly rid of whatever is grave and mournful in 
this day of cruel memory." 

The ultras were thinking much less of the real 
interests of the monarchy than of their own spites 
and their personal ambitions. 

These pretended supports of the throne were 
digging the abyss in which the throne was to be 
swallowed up. Charles X., blinded, was already 
thinking of calling the Prince de Polignac to power, 
and regarded the Martignac ministry as a provisional 
expedient. To the despair of the members of this 
ministry, he maintained relations with M. de Villele, 
whose fall he regretted. After the opening of the 
session, he wrote to his former minister, February 6, 
1828 : — 

" What do you think of my discourse ? I did my 
best; but as it was a success with some persons of 



THE MAETIGNAC MINISTBY 219 



doubtful opinions, I am afraid that it is not worth 
much. Everything appears to me so confused, that I 
know not what to count upon. The eulogies of the 
DShats and the Constitutionnel make me fear I have 
said stupid things. Yet I hope not, and I shall con- 
tinue to arrest with firmness what may lead to dan- 
gerous concessions." 

On the other hand, if there were among the liberals 
some sincere and well-intentioned men, who meant to 
remain faithful alike to the throne and the Charter, 
there were others who already masked treachery 
under the appearance of devotion to the King. 
Those who two years later were to boast of having 
labored during the entire restoration for the ruin of 
the elder branch, — actors in the comedy of fifteen 
years, as they called themselves, — gave themselves 
out, in 1828, as partisans and enthusiastic admirers 
of Charles X. At the commencement of the session 
a deputy of the Left, having affected to say in the 
tribune that the King had not a single enemy, the 
Right permitted itself some exclamations of doubt. 
One of its members, M. de Marinhac, cried: "As a 
good prince I believe that His Majesty has no ene- 
mies, but as King, he has many, and I know them," 
added he, looking at his opponents. The entire Left 
was indignant, and caused the orator to be called to 
order. M. Dupin thanked the president, and said in 
an agitated voice : " It is a calumny, an insult, that 
we cannot endure. Nothing wounds as more than to 
hear ourselves accused of being the enemies of him 
whom we adore, cherish, bless." 



220 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

The tactics of the Opposition were to flatter the 
King, but to disarm him and to make him look on 
those who were really revolutionists as ministerialists. 
M. de Martignac was a man of good faith, but many 
who boasted of supporting him were not so, and per- 
haps M. de Villele was right when he wrote to 
Charles X. in June, 1828 : — 

" I could serve Your Majesty only with the light 
and the character God has given me. It would have 
been, it would be, impossible for me to believe that 
authority can be maintained by concessions and by 
leaning on those who wish to overthrow it." 

Meanwhile there were still some fine days for the 
old King. His journey in the departments of the 
east, in 1828, was a continual ovation that recalled 
to him the enthusiasm of the beginning of his reign. 
Setting out from Saint Cloud the 31st of August, he 
arrived at Metz the 3d of September. All the houses 
of this great military city were hung with the white 
flag adorned with fleurs-de-lis. After having visited 
some of the fortifications, Charles X., following the 
ramparts, came to an elegant pavilion erected on the 
site of the ancient citadel. Long covered seats were 
arranged for the ladies of the city; a prodigious 
number of spectators occupied the ramparts. In the 
presence of the sovereign a regiment made a simu- 
lated attack on a " demi-lune " and a bastion. 

On September 6, Saverne arranged a very pictur- 
esque reception for the King. All the cantons and 
all the communes sent thither, together with their 



THE MARTIGNAC MINISTRY 221 

mayors and their richest farmers, their prettiest vil- 
lage girls in Alsatian costume. Five hundred peas- 
ants, clad in red vest and long black coat, the head 
covered with a great hat turned up on one side, a 
white ribbon tied about the left arm, were on horse- 
back at the place of meeting. The young girls, 
bearing flags and garlands, were brought in wagons, 
each containing a dozen or sixteen. In other wagons 
were the musicians. The pretty Alsaciennes pre- 
sented the monarch with a basket of flowers; then 
he breakfasted with the authorities, and, at a signal, 
fires were lighted at the same time on the plain and 
on the surrounding mountains. 

The 7th of September, Charles X. entered Stras- 
bourg in triumph. At a league from the city, on a 
height from which it was to be seen, and whence the 
wooded hills of the Black Forest were visible, he was 
awaited by a crowd of young girls in Alsatian cos- 
tume, in three hundred wagons, with four or six 
horses to each. There were also twelve hundred 
horsemen, divided into squadrons, the mayors with 
their scarfs at their head and carrying the fleur-de- 
lis standards. The royal cortege passed, under arbors 
of verdure and flowers, amid this^ long file of vehicles 
and horsemen, who escorted it to the walls of Stras- 
bourg. Delighted with the enthusiasm of which he 
was the object, the sovereign proceeded to the Cathe- 
dral, where a Te Deum was sung. In the evening the 
spire of this marvellous church was illuminated : it 
was like a pyramid of stars. 



222 THE DUCHESS OF BERBT 

The King of Wiirtemberg, the Grand Duke of 
Baden, and his three brothers came to greet the King 
of France in the capital of Alsace. He showed them 
at the arsenal sixteen hundred pieces of ordnance 
on their carriages, and arms sufficient for a hundred 
thousand men. 

" Sire, and gentlemen," he said with a smile, in 
which kingly pride mingled with perfect urbanity, 
" I have nothing to conceal from you. This is some- 
thing I can show to my friends as to my enemies." 

Yes, France was great then, and no one could have 
predicted for Alsace the fate reserved for her forty- 
two years later. The army was the admiration of 
Europe. The navy had just recaptured at Navarino 
the prestige and power of the time of Louis XVI. 
Charles X. said to Mr. Hyde de Neuville : — 

"France, when a noble design is involved, takes 
counsel only with herself. Thus whether England 
wishes or not, we shall free Greece. Continue the 
armaments with the same activity. I shall not pause 
in the path of humanity and honor." 

And at the moment when the very Christian King 
was greeted by the German Princes in the Alsatian 
capital, his victorious troops were completing in the 
Morea the enfranchisement of Greece. 

Charles X. returned by Colrnar, Lun^ville, Nancy, 
and Champagne. At Troyes he found himself sur- 
rounded by all the liberal deputies, and he deco- 
rated Casimir P^rier. Everywhere he had an enthu- 
siastic welcome. On his return to Saint Cloud he 



THE 3IAUTTGNAC MINISTBY 223 

was warmly congratulated by all his court. Never- 
theless, as the Duchess of Gontaut said to him : — 

" Sire, you must be happy." — " What do cheers sig- 
nify?" he answered, not without sadness. "These 
demonstrations, all superficial, should not dazzle — a 
friendly gesture of the hand, a prince's, a king's, ex- 
pression of satisfaction will obtain them." 

Despite this philosophic reflection, Charles X. was 
triumphant. If his ministers wished to credit their 
liberal policy with the ovations he had received in 
the east, he called their attention to the fact that he 
had been not less well received the year before under 
the Villele ministry at the time of his visit to the 
camp of Saint Omer. In the enthusiasm manifested 
by the people, he saw an homage to the monarchical 
principle, not to the policy of one or another minis- 

"You hear these people. Do they shout hurrah 
for the Charter ? No, they cry long live the King ! " 
Still confident of the future, he wished to persuade 
himself that the obstacles piled up before his dynasty 
were but clouds that a favorable wind would scatter 
soon. " Ah, Monsieur de Martignac," he cried, with 
deep joy, " what a nation ! what should we not do for 
it!" 

At the moment that Charles X. traversed the 
provinces of the east in triumph, the Duchess of 
Berry was making in the west a journey not less 
brilliant than that of the sovereign. 



XXIII 

THE JOURNEY IN THE WEST 

NEVER was a princely journey more triumphal 
than that of the Duchess of Berry in the prov- 
inces of the west in 1828. Madame, who left Paris 
June 16, returned there October 1, and there was not 
a day in these three months that she was not the 
object of enthusiastic ovations. In a book of nearly 
six hundred pages, Viscount Walsh has described, 
with the fidelity of a Dangeau, this journey in which 
the mother of the Duke of Bordeaux was treated like 
a queen of a fairy tale. 

The 16th of June, the Princess slept at Ram- 
bouillet, where two years later such cruel trials were to 
come to her. The 18th, she visited Chambord, where 
she was received by Count Adrien de Calonne, the 
author of the project of the subscription, thanks to 
which this historic chateau became the property of 
the Duke of Bordeaux. 

In the face of the wind, which was blowing with 
force, Madame ascended to the highest point of the 
chateau, the platform of the lantern called Fleur-de- 
Lis at the end of the famous double balustered stair- 
case. From there her glance wandered over the vast 
224 



THE JOURNEY IN THE WEST 225 

extent of the park, with a circumference of eight 
leagues, and enclosing, besides six or seven thousand 
acres of woodland, twenty-three farms, whose build- 
ings, cultivated fields, and scattered flocks, animated 
the view in all directions. On descending, she said : 
" I should like to mark my name here ; I shall love 
to see it again when I come to visit the Duke of Bor- 
deaux." And with a stiletto she cut these words: 
''18th June — Marie Caroline." Some young girls 
presented her with lambs white as snow, decorated 
with green and white ribbons, and with a tame roe, 
on whose collar was engraved : " Homage of the peo- 
ple of Chambord." The same day she paid visits at 
their chateaux to Marshal Victor, Duke of Bellune, 
and to the Duke d'Avaray. In the evening she 
returned to Blois. Madame left there the 19th of 
June, after examining the Salle des Etats, the room 
in which the Duke of Guise was assassinated, and 
the tower where Catharine de' Medici used to consult 
the astrologers. The 20th, she attended at Saumur a 
brilliant tournament given in her honor by the Cavalry 
School. The 21st, she entered Angers amid shouts 
and cheers. The 22d, she visited the chateau of 
Count Walsh de Serrant. Her carriage passed under 
vaults of verdure adorned with flowers and banners. 
The Princess arrived the same day at Saint Florent, 
which, in 1793, had given the signal for the war of the 
Vendue, and where the Venddan army had effected 
the famous passage of the Loire, comparable to that 
of the Berezina. There the aged witnesses of the 



226 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



struggles described by Napoleon as " a war of giants," 
had assembled near the tomb of Bonchamp to await 
the Duchess of Berry. All the neighboring heights 
were bristling with white flags. From afar they were 
seen fluttering on the church-towers, on the chateaux, 
over cottages, on isolated trees. They were to be 
seen even above the graves in the cemeteries. A son 
had said: " My father died for the white flag ; let us 
plant it on his grave ; the dead should rejoice, for 
Madame comes to honor their fidelity." The example 
was followed, and the tombs bore the rallying sign of 
those who rested there. When on the borders of the 
Loire, the Princess paused a moment, struck with the 
majesty of the scene. The cannon mingled their noble 
voices with the acclamations of fifteen thousand 
Vend^ans. The stream was covered with a swarm 
of boats, dressed with flags. A magnificent sun 
lighted up this fete. 

It was ten o'clock when Madame arrived at Mille- 
raye, opposite Saint Florent. It was there that 
General de Bonchamp, one of the heroes of the Ven- 
due, had given up his soul to God. The cottage 
where the soldiers had laid him to die was shown. 
His widow awaited the Duchess of Berry. What 
contrast between the festivity of Saint Florent and 
the consternation of the days of grief and misfortune, 
when, in October, 1793, its people fled to the right 
bank of the Loire, leaving their houses a prey to the 
flames! The cries of distress and despair which 
sounded along the banks of the stream in that fatal 



THE JOURNEY IN THE WEST 227 

year, were now replaced by shouts of joy. Madame 
embarked amid cheers. Her boat was escorted by a 
great number of others, six of which contained Ven- 
d^ans bearing flags torn by bullets in the battles of 
Fontenay and of Torfou, of Laval, and of Dol. 
Grouped on the hill-slopes of Saint Florent, more 
than fifteen thousand spectators followed with their 
gaze the flotilla, in the midst of which they saw the 
Duchess of Berry, standing, visibly agitated. She 
landed upon the plateau of Saint Florent, and 
ascended on foot the hill that led to it. When she 
reached the summit, she found herself in the midst of 
a camp of five thousand Yendean soldiers who had 
taken part in the war of 1793 or in the arming of 
1815. There it was that Cathelineau, as in the time 
of the crusades, cried : " It is God's will. Let us 
march I " — " Oh, what a people ! " said the Princess. 
'^ What fine and honest faces ! What an accent in 
their cries of ' Long live the King ! ' Yes, plainly 
they love us." She proceeded to the church of Saint 
Florent, where, kneeling beneath a canopy, she heard 
Mass. She regarded Avith attention the tomb of Bon- 
champ, and said, as she beheld his statue : " He looks 
as if he were still commanding." 

On leaving the church, she went to see the place 
where Bonchamp is buried, and, under a tent, partook 
of a repast offered her by the Countess d'Auti- 
champ. She had recounted to her in detail the 
celebrated passage of the Loire, the disastrous period 
when all the city of Saint Florent was burned by 



228 THE BUCHESS OF BEBBY 

order of the Convention, and the only house left 
standing was the one occupied by the republican Gen- 
eral Ldchelle as his headquarters. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Madame em- 
barked anew on the steamboat awaiting her at the 
point of Varades, and proceeded in this way to Nantes. 
The inhabitants from the two banks of the stream 
greeted her upon her passage. The red aprons and 
white caps of the women contrasted, in the landscape, 
with the sombre costume of the men. That she 
might be better recognized by the crowd, the Prin- 
cess, clad in a simple robe of brown silk, with a long 
chain of gold at the neck, separated herself from her 
suite, mounted to the highest point on the boat, and 
greeted with voice and gesture all these faithful 
people. The men waved banners and standards. 
The women raised their little children in their arms 
and said : " Look at her well ; it's the mother of the 
Duke of Bordeaux." 

The people seemed to walk upon the water to get 
a nearer view of Madame. Not a rock pushing out 
into the stream that was not occupied. Where the 
Loire was too wide for the features of the Princess to 
be seen from the shore, the dwellers on the banks 
had, so to speak, brought them together, by forming 
in the middle of the stream streets of boats, with 
their flags and their triumphal arches. At a league 
from Saint Florent a rock juts into the water of the 
Loire. Here was an aged Yend^an, all alone, his 
white hair fluttering in the wind. Erect upon the 



THE JOUnnEY IN THE WEST 229 



rock, he was holding a white flag, and at his feet was 
a dog. It was, according to the Moniteur, a symbol 
of faithful Vendue. 

The same day, June 22, at seven in the evening, 
the Princess reached Nantes. She passed on foot 
from the Port Maillard to the Prefecture, and had 
difficulty in getting through the innumerable multi- 
tude. The next day she was at Savenay, where, on 
leaving the church, she paused to contemplate the 
monument raised to the memory of the victims of the 
battle of the 23d of September, 1793. The 24th, she 
went to Saint Anne d'Auray, a pilgrimage venerated 
throughout all Brittany, and visited the Champ des 
Martyrs^ the little plain where thirty-three years be- 
fore, the emigres taken at Quiberon had been shot, 
despite their capitulation. When Madame appeared 
on the consecrated field, the crowd cheered her, then 
became still, and amid solemn silence, sang the De 
Profundis. 

The 25th, the Princess was at Lorient, and there 
laid the corner-stone of the monument erected to 
Bisson, the lieutenant of the navy who, in the Greek 
expedition, October, 1827, being charged with the 
command of a brig taken from the Turks by Admiral 
de Rigny's fleet, blew up the vessel, with the crew, 
rather than surrender. After visiting Rennes, she 
returned to Nantes, the 28th of June. A triumphal 
arch had been constructed on the Place des Changes, 
with this inscription : " Lilies for our Bourbons. 
Laurels for Henry. Roses for Louise." The flower 



230 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

and fruit girls had written on their arch of verdure : 
" Our flowers, our fruits, our hearts, are Madame's." 
The 29th, the Duchess attended a magnificent ball 
given by the city. The next day she visited the 
Trappist Convent at Melleray. It was difficult to 
persuade her to go away. " Where shall I find more 
happiness than here ? " she said. " Elsewhere there 
are pleasures and distractions, but none here. Since 
I make them happy, I would remain ; and I am very 
well pleased." 

The 30th, at evening, Madame arrived at Trdmici- 
ni^re, at the house of the Countess de Chare tte, the 
sister-in-law of the famous Vend^an chief. July 1, 
she entered Bocage. From there no more wide roads, 
no more cities of easy approach; bad ways, long 
distances without relays, obstacles of all sorts. Clad 
in a green riding-habit, with a gray felt hat and a 
gauze veil, Madame galloped between Madame de la 
Rochejaquelein and Madame de Charette. At her 
arrival at Saint Hilaire, the Marquis de Foresta, 
Prefect of La Vendue, said to her: "Madame does 
not like phrases ; La Vendue does not make them ; it 
has but one sentiment and one cry to express it: 
Long live the King ! Long live Madame ! Forever 
live the Bourbons ! " 

The peasants never wearied of admiring her in- 
trepidity. When her horse, excited by the cries and 
the beating of the drums, pranced and reared, they 
were heard to say : " Oh ! the brave little woman ; 
she is not frightened." A villager exclaimed: "I 



THE JOUENEY IN THE WEST 231 

have never regretted my old father so much as to- 
day ; one day like this would have repaid him for 
all the hardships he suffered." 

Madame passed the night at the Chateau of La- 
grange, the property of the Marquis de Goulaine. 
On entering her chamber she found by her bed a 
night-lamp, with this motto: "Rest tranquilly; La 
Vendue is watching." 

On the 3d of July, she visited the Champ des 
Mattes, where in 1815 the Marquis Louis de La 
Rochejaquelein was killed at the head of the Ven- 
d^ans in insurrection against Napoleon. The same 
day she was at Bourbon-Vendue. The 5th of July, at 
the crossing of the Quatre Chemins, in sight of the 
roads from Nantes, from Bourbon, from Saumur, and 
from La Rochelle, she laid the first stone of a monu- 
ment to perpetuate the memory of the Yend^an vic- 
tories. She returned afterward to the Chateau de 
Mesnard, the property of her first equerry, the one 
who traced so well the itinerary of her journey. All 
the inhabitants of the bourg of Mesnard had taken 
part in the great Vend^an war, and, their cur^ at 
their head, marched as far as Granville. The mother 
of the first equerry, then a widow, and whose two 
sons were in the army of Cond^, had followed her 
former peasants, with her daughter, and died at 
Lagrande at the time of the disastrous retreat. 
Madame de la Rochejaquelein, in her Memoirs, 
speaks of the sad state in which she saAV her. In 
memory of so much devotion, Madame wished to 



232 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

open a hal champStre with a veteran of the bourg of 
Mesnard. 

That night the Princess slept at the Chateau of 
Landebaudiere, belonging to Count Auguste de La 
Rochejaquelein. Everywhere the villagers came to 
the gates of the chsiteaux to enlist in their joys as 
formerly they had enlisted in their combats, — Lescure, 
La Rochejaquelein, d'Elb^e, Charette. The 6th, 
Madame visited the field of the battle of Torfou. 
A former officer of the army of La Vendue, noting 
that she wore a green riding-habit, said to her: 
" We were always attached to our uniform, but we 
cherish it more than ever to-day, when we see that 
we wear the colors of Madame." — "Gentlemen," 
replied the Princess, "I have adopted your uni- 
form." She breakfasted in the open air, amid the 
Vend^ans under arms. 

Madame continued her journey on horseback. 
Nothing could stop her, neither oppressive heat nor 
rain-storms. When she was spoken to of her fatigues, 
"It is only fair," she responded, "that I should 
give myself a little trouble to make the acquaint- 
ance of those who have shed their blood for us." 
Most of the time she took her repast in the open 
air. The peasants strolled around the table and 
fired salutes with their old muskets; for in Ven- 
due there is no fete without powder. Then to the 
sound of the hiniou and of the veze they moved in 
joyous dances in which the daughter of kings did 
not disdain to take part. On entering everjr village 



THE JOURNEY IN THE WEST 233 

she was greeted by the cur^s of the parish and the 
neighboring parishes. Nearly all were old soldiers 
whose hands had borne the sword before carrying 
the cross. 

Near the boundaries of the department of La 
Loire-Infdrieure Madame alighted. "Here is a 
farm," she said; "let us knock and ask for some 
milk." The doors were not closed. On entering 
the room of the farm-wife, — who was absent, — the 
Princess found only a very little infant asleep and 
swaddled in a cradle. Then she seated herself on 
a stool, and after the fashion of the country, set 
herself to rocking, with her foot, the babe of the 
poor peasant-woman. The 6th of July, at nine in 
the evening, she reached Beaupr^au. The city, 
built in the form of an amphitheatre, was illu- 
minated ; an immense bonfire had been lighted. 
The next day Madame laid the corner-stone of a 
monument in honor of d'Elbee, and saluted at Pin- 
en-Mauges, the statue of Cathelineau. The 8th of 
July, she was at the Chateau of Maul^vrier, whose 
owner, M. de Colbert, had erected a monument to 
the memory of Stoffliet, the heroic huntsman. The 
same day, at Saint Aubin, she laid the first stone 
of another monument raised to the four heroes of 
La Vendue, — Dornissan, Lescure, Henry and Louis 
de La Rochejaquelein. 

The 10th of July, the Princess was at LuQon, 
the 11th at La Rochelle, the 12th at Rochefort, 
the 13th at Blaye, the 14th at Bordeaux. The 



234 THE DUCHESS OF BEBEY 

"faithful city," as the capital of the Gironde was 
then named, distinguished itself by its enthusiasm. 
A little girl of eight years, Mademoiselle du 
Hamel, surrounded by her young companions, 
daughters of members of the municipal government 
read a welcome to the mother of the Duke of Bor- 
deaux as follows ; — 

"Madame, while our fathers have the honor to 
offer you their hearts and their arms, permit us, 
children, to offer to you the flowers and the prayers 
of innocence. In choosing me as their interpre- 
ter, my young companions have doubtless wished 
to recall to you an angel who is dear to you; but 
if alone of them all I have the fortune to count 
the same number of years as Mademoiselle, we all 
rival each other in cherishing you, we all repeat 
with an enthusiasm rendered purer and more sim- 
ple by our age, Long live the King ! Long live 
Madame ! " 

In the evening the " Mother of the Little Duke," 
as the Bordelais called the Princess, went to the chief 
theatre, where she was received with frenzied ap- 
plause. The statue of the Duke of Bordeaux, sup- 
ported by soldiers under a canopy of flags, and 
crowned with laurels, was brought to the front of the 
stage, while a cortege formed by a detachment of 
troops of the line, and by all the company of the 
theatre, filed by, military music resounded. Then a 
cantata was sung. 

On the morrow, at a grand ball offered to her by 



THE JOURNEY IN THE WEST 235 



the city, Madame was seated upon a platform that 
was surmounted by a fine portrait of her son. Eight 
hundred women, crowned with white plumes, flowers, 
and diamonds, cheered her. The 18th, she slept 
at Pau, the native place of Henry IV. The moun- 
taineers, descending from their heights, banner in 
hand, with their Basque costumes, came to meet her. 
The next day she visited the castle where was born 
the B^arnais, whose cradle, formed of a great tor- 
toise-shell, she saw : it was shaded by draperies and 
white plumes. The following day she visited the 
environs. To descend into the valley of Ossun, she 
donned the felt hat and the red sash worn by the 
peasants of B^arn. As she was looking at the spring 
of Nays, a mountaineer offered her some water in a 
rustic dish, and said naively : " Are you pleased with 
the B^arnais, Madame?" — "Am I not pleased!" 
replied the Princess, eagerly. " See, I wear the hat 
and sash of the country I " 

The 24th, she was at the He des Faisans, famous in 
the souvenirs of Louis XIV. ; the 25th, at Bayonne, 
where she assisted at a military fete. In all her ex- 
cursions, Madame carried her pencils with her, and 
almost every day sketched some picturesque site. 
Eight B^arnais, with an amaranth belt and hats of 
white and green, served her as a guard of honor. 
She passed all the month of August and a part of the 
month of September in the Pyrenees. The moun- 
taineers never wearied of admiring the hardihood, 
the gaiety, the spirit, shown by her in making the 



236 THE DUCHESS OF BEBET 

most difficult ascensions. The 9th of September, 
she quitted Bagneres-de Luchon to return to Paris, 
passing through Toulouse, Montauban, Cahors, 
Limoges, and Orleans. It was one long series of 
ovations. The 1st of October, Madame returned to 
the Tuileries. She had been accompanied all through 
her journey by the Mar^chale Duchess of Reggio, lady 
of honor ; by the Marchioness of Podenas, lady com- 
panion ; and by Count de Mesnard, first equerry. 

The Duchess of Berry returned enchanted. Could 
she suspect the reception that awaited her, four years 
later, in the places where she had just been the object 
of veritable worship? When she was received at 
Nantes as a triumphant sovereign, could she believe 
that the time was approaching when, in that same 
city, she would have hardly a stone on which to lay 
her head and where she would seek a futile refuge in 
the chimney-piece — mysterious hiding-place — of the 
house of the Demoiselles Duguigny? At Blaye 
could she imagine that the citadel, hung with white 
flags, whose cannon were fired in her honor, would so 
soon become her prison ? Poor Princess ! She had 
taken seriously the protestations of devotion and 
fidelity addressed to her everywhere. They asked 
her to promise that if ever the rights of her son were 
denied, she would defend them on the soil of La 
Vendue, and she had said to herself : " I swear it." 
The journey of 1828 held the germ of the expedition 
of 1832. 



XXIV 

THE MAEY STUART BALL 

nVyO society in Europe was more agreeable and 
-L 1 brilliant than that of the Duchess of Berry. 
The fetes given by the Princess in the salons of the 
Pavilion de Marsan at the Tuileries were marked 
by exceptional elegance and good taste ; the petit 
chdteau^, as her vivacious social staff was called 
at that time, had an extraordinary brightness and 
animation. At the carnival of 1829 Madame organ- 
ized a costume ball, which, for its brilliancy, was the 
talk of the court and the city. All the costumes 
were those of one period, — that at which the dowager 
queen of Scotland, Marie of Lorraine, widow of 
James V., came to France to visit her daughter, Mary 
Stuart, wife of the King, Francis II. It was de- 
cided that Mary Stuart should be represented by the 
Duchess of Berry, and the King, Francis II., by the 
oldest of the sons of the Duke of Orleans, the Duke 
of Chartres, who was then eighteen and one-half years 
old, and who was, the next year, to take the title of 
Duke of Orleans, on the accession of his father to the 
throne. The apartments of the Children of France 
in the Pavilion de Marsan were chosen for the ball, 
and the date was fixed at Monday, March 2, 1829. 

237 



288 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

The King, the Dauphin and Dauphiness, the Duke 
and Duchess of Orleans, appeared at the fete, but not 
in costume. Charles X. came after the hour of 
giving out the general orders. The Dauphin, the 
Dauphiness, and the Duke of Orleans arrived at 
8 P.M. The entry of the four queens, Mary Stuart, 
Marie of Lorraine, Catharine de' Medici, Jeanne 
d'Albret, was announced by the band of the body- 
guards which preceded them. The cortege was 
magnificent, the costumes of the princes and their 
ladies resplendent. To increase its richness, the 
Dauphiness had lent not only her own jewels, but a 
part of those of the crown. The invited guests not 
taking part in the cortege occupied places already 
assigned them. They wore a uniform costume of 
silver gauze and white satin. This coolness of tone 
produced a charming effect when at the arrival of 
the cortege all rose. In the ball-room a platform had 
been prepared with a throne for Mary Stuart. The 
Duchess of Berry, as the famous queen, wore with 
great grace a dazzling toilet — crown of diamonds, 
high collar, blue velvet robe with wide sleeves, front 
of white satin bordered with ermine. The Duke of 
Chartres, a handsome boy and brilliant cavalier, as 
King Francis II., wore a cap with v,^hite plumes, and a 
dark blue velvet doublet with ornaments of gold. His 
brother, the Duke of Nemours, fourteen years old, 
was in the character of a page to the King, with a 
white satin doublet, and recalled in his features the 
youth of Henry IV. The Duchess of Berry, playing 



THE IfART STUART BALL 239 

to perfection lier r61e of queen, advanced to the 
throne. The Duke of Chartres gave her his hand 
to ascend the steps. Then she made a sign to be 
seated; but the young Prince remained standing. 
Placing himself behind the throne, and removing 
his cap with white plumes, he bowed low and said : 
"Madame, I know my place." The Duchess of 
Gontaut spoke to the Duchess of Orleans, and asked 
her if she had remarked the tact of her son the 
Prince. " I remarked it." replied the Princess, " and 
I approve of it." 

The ball commenced. There was present a great 
Scotch lord, the Marquis of Huntley, who belonged 
to a very illustrious Jacobite house. In his youth he 
had been what was then called a beau danseur^ and had 
had the honor of opening a fancy dress ball at the Cha- 
teau of Versailles with the Queen Marie Antoinette. 
Charles X. remembered it and wished that the Mar- 
quis, then nearly eighty, should open the ball with 
little Mademoiselle, who was but nine. Still a beau 
danseur, the old Englishman had not forgotten the 
pirouettes of Versailles ; all the court admired, and 
the young princes were greatly amused. 

The ball was a marvellous success. It was a revival 
of the beautiful fetes of the Renaissance. The six- 
teenth century, so elegant, so picturesque, lived anew. 
A painter, who was then but twenty-nine, and who 
had already a great vogue, M. Eugene Lamy, per- 
petuated its memory in a series of twenty-six water- 
colors, which have been lithographed, and form a 



240 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

curious album. (A copy of this album is in the 
National Library, in the Cabinet of Engravings.) It 
contains, besides, four water-colors, representing one, 
the ascent of the stairway of the Pavilion de Marsan 
by the guests ; another, Mary Stuart seated on the 
throne ; a third, one of the dances of the ball ; a fourth, 
the entrance of the Dowager Queen of Scotland — 
twenty-two reproductions of the principal personages 
at the f^te. At the left are the arms of the historic 
personages represented, and at the right those of the 
representative. Then above the portrait of the Duch- 
ess of Berry there are at the . left the arms of Scot- 
land and France, and at the right those of France 
and the Two Sicilies, and above the portrait of the 
Duke of Chartres at the left the arms of France, at 
the right the ducal blazon of Orleans. 

Here are the names of the twenty-two persons who 
figure in the album of M. Eugene Lamy, with the 
personages represented : — 

1. The Duchess of Berry (Mary Stuart). 

2. The Duke of Chartres (Francis II.). 

3. The Duke de Nemours (a king's page). 

4. Lady Stuart de Rothsay (Marie de Lorraine). 
Daughter of Lord Hardwicke, she was the wife of 
Lord Stuart de Rothsay, ambassador of England at 
Paris. 

5. The Marquis of Douglas, since Duke of Hamil- 
ton (the Duke de Ch^tellerault), a finished type of 
the great Scotch lord; he married in 1843 the Princess 
Mary of Baden, and under the reign of Napoleon III. 



THE MABY STUART BALL 241 

added to his titles of Hamilton and of Brandon in 
Scotland and England, the title of Duke de Ch^tel- 
lerault, in France, which had formerly belonged to 
the Hamilton family. 

6. The Marchioness of Podenas, nSe Nadaillac 
(Catharine de' Medici). Lady companion of the 
Duchess of Berry, she was one of the brightest 
women of the court. 

7. The Count de Pastoret, married to a de Neu- 
fermeil (Duke of Ferrara). 

8. The Marquis de Yogud (the Vidame de Char- 
tres). Married to a Mademoiselle de Machault 
d' Arnouville ; his son was the diplomat who was am- 
bassador under the presidency of Thiers and of 
Marshal Macmahon. 

9. Count Ludovic de Rosanbo (Duke de Guise). 
He was one of the handsomest men of his time. He 
had married the daughter of the Count de Mesnard, 
lady companion to the Duchess of Berry. 

10. The Countess de La Rochejaquelein, daughter 
of the Duke de Duras (a lady of honor to the Queen). 
She was honorary lady companion to the Duchess of 
Berry. 

11. Miss Louise Stuart (a page to the Queen- 
Mother of Scotland). 

12. Miss Pole Carew (Mary Seaton, maid of honor 
to the same queen). 

13. The Count de Mailly (Ren^ de Mailly, officer 
of the guard to Mary Stuart). The Count was the 
son of the Marshal de Mailly, defender of the Tulle- 



242 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

ries on August 10, who paid for his devotion on the 
scaffold of the Revolution. Aide-de-camp of the 
Duke of Bordeaux, and lieutenant-colonel; he was 
a brilliant officer who had received glorious wounds 
in the Russian campaign. He was married to a 
Mademoiselle de Lonlay de Villepail. 

14. The Countess d'Orglandes, nee Montblin, one 
of the prettiest women of the court (Louise de Cler- 
mont-Tonnerre, Countess of Crussol). 

15. The Duchess de Caylus, nee La Grange, a 
great beauty, remarried afterwards to the Count de 
Rochemure (Diane de Poitiers). 

16. Mademoiselle de B^arn, a charming young girl, 
married afterwards to the Duke of Vallombrosa, and 
dying so young and so regretted (a maid of honor to 
Mary Stuart). 

17. Count de Mesnard, peer of France, field mar- 
shal, first equerry of the Duchess of Berry, aide-de- 
camp of the Duke of Bordeaux (Admiral de Coligny). 

18. Marquis de Louvois, peer of France, married 
to Mademoiselle de Monaco (Count Gondi de Ritz). 

19. The Duke of Richelieu, nephew of the Presi- 
dent of the Council of Ministers of Louis XVIII. 
(Jacques d'Albon, Marshal of Saint Andrd). 

20. The Baron de Chare tte (Francois de Lorraine). 
He had married a daughter of the Duke of Berry and 
of Miss Brown. His son was the general of the 
Papal Zouaves. 

21. Countess de Pastoret, nSe Neufermeil (the 
Duchess of Montpensier). 



THE MAUY STUART BALL 243 

22. The Countess Aaguste de Juignd, nee Durfort 
de Civrac (Jeanne d'Albret). 

Among the pages were the Duke de Maill^, who 
carried the banner of France, and Count Maxence de 
Damas. 

Eugene Lamy, at the age of eighty-seven, exhibited 
in 1887 a charming water-color, bf which the subject 
was " A Ball under Henry III." He has the same 
talent, the same brightness, the same freshness of 
coloring as when, fifty-eight years before, he painted 
the water colors of the Mary Stuart ball. The Duke 
de Nemours, one of the last survivors of the guests 
of this ball, could recount its splendors. Even 
in the time of the old regime no more elegant ball 
was ever seen. If such a fete had been given in 
our time, the detailed accounts of it would fill the 
papers; but under the Restoration the press was 
very sober in the matter of " society news," and the 
dazzling ball of 1829 was hardly mentioned. On the 
morrow, the Journal des Dehats said : — 

"Paris, 2d of March. 

"The ball given at the Pavilion Marsan, in the 
apartments of the Children of France, was honored 
by the presence of the King, M. the Dauphin jind 
Madame the Dauphiness. Mgr. the Duke of Orleans 
and his family arrived at eight o'clock. 

" To-morrow there will be a play at the Court 
Theatre ; the actors of the opera will play La Muette 
de Portici.''^ 



244 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

Beside the persons who figure in the album of M. 
Eugene Lamy many others were to be noted. Let us 
mention the Countess Henri de Biron, the Marchion- 
ess Oudinot, the Countess de Noailles, who repre- 
sented Margaret of Savoy, Claude Duchess of 
Lorraine, the Princess de Cond^, the Princess of 
Ferrara ; the Count A. de Damas, as Lanoue Bras-de- 
Fer; Monsieur de San Giacomo, as Francois de' 
Medici ; the Countess de Montault, as Countess de 
Coligny; the Marchioness de Montcalm, as the 
Duchess de Bouillon ; the flower of the English 
aristocracy, — Lady Aldborough, Lady Rendlesham, 
Lady Cambermere, Lady Vernon, Lord Ramlagh, 
Captain Drummond, Lord Forwich, Lord Abayne, 
Miss Caulfuld, Miss Thelusson, Miss Baring, Miss 
Acton, and, lastly, the Counts de Coss^ de Biron, and 
de Brissac, representing the three marshals of France 
whose names they bore. 

In donning the costume of the unfortunate queen 
whose sorrows could only be compared to those of 
Marie Antoinette, the Duchess of Berry proved how 
free her mind was from all gloomy presentiments, 
forgetting that the family of the Bourbons had 
already had its Charles L, and not foreseeing that it 
was soon to have its James IL, the amiable Princess 
hardly suspected that in the course of next year, she 
would be an exile in Scotland in the castle of Mary 
Stuart. 



XXV 

THE FINE ARTS 

FROM 1824 to the end of the Restoration, the 
department of the Fine Arts, connected with the 
ministry of the King's household, was confided to 
the Viscount Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld, son 
of the Duke de Doudeauville. He was then at 
the head of the museums, the royal manufactures, 
the Conservatory and the five royal theatres, — the 
Opdra, the Fran§ais, the Od^on, the Op^ra-Comique, 
and the Italiens. 

From the point of view of arts and letters the 
reign of Charles X. was illustrious. The King en- 
couraged, protected, pensioned the greater number of 
the great writers and artists who honored France. 
What is sometimes called in literature the genera- 
tion of 1830 would be more exactly described as the 
generation of the Restoration. This regime can claim 
the glory of Lamartine, as poet. A body-guard of 
Louis XVIII., he was the singer of royalty. He 
published, in 1820, the first volume of his Meditations 
poetiques, in 1823 the second, and in 1829 the Harmo- 
nies. His literary success opened to him the doors 
of diplomacy. He was successively attach^ of the 

245 



246 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

Legation at Florence, Secretary of Embassy at 
Naples and at London, Charg<^ d' Affaires in Tuscany. 
When the Revolution of 1830 broke out, he had just 
been named Minister Plenipotentiary to Greece. 

Victor Hugo published his Odes et Ballades from 
1822 to 1828. "La Vendue," "Les Yierges de 
Verdun," " Quiberon," " Louis XVIL," "Le E^ab- 
lissement de la Statue de Henri IV,," "La Mort 
du due de Berry," "La Naissance du due de Bor- 
deaux," "Les Fundrailles de Louis XVHL," "Le 
Sacre de Charles X.," are true royalist songs. Alex- 
andre Dumas, jils^ in receiving M. Leconte de Lisle 
at the French Academy, recalled " the light of that 
little lamp, seen burning every night in the man- 
sard of the Rue Dragon, at the window of the 
boy poet, poor, solitary, indefatigable, enamoured 
of the ideal, hungry for glory, of that little lamp, 
the silent and friendly confidant of his first works 
and his first hopes so miraculously realized." Who 
knows? without the support of the government of 
the Restoration the light of that little lamp might 
less easily have developed into the resplendent star 
that the author of La Dame aux CamSlias indicated 
in the firmament. 

The author of MSditations poStiques and the 
author of the Odes et Ballades were sincere in the 
expression of their political and religious enthusiasm. 
These two lyric apostles of the throne and the altar, 
these two bards of the coronation, obeyed the 
double inspiration of their imagination and their con- 



THE FINE ARTS 247 



science. Party spirit should not be too severe for 
a regime that suggested such admirable verses to 
the two greatest French poets of the nineteenth 
century — to Lamartine and to Victor Hugo. 

Let us recall also that in Victor Hugo it was not 
only the royalist poet that Charles X. protected, it 
was also the chief of the romantic school ; for the gov- 
ernment, despite all the efforts of the classicists, 
caused Hernani to be represented at the Frangais, 
a subsidized theatre. When the Academy pressed 
its complaint to the very throne to prevent the ac- 
ceptance of the play, the King replied wittily that 
he claimed no right in the matter beyond his place 
in the parterre. The first representation of Hernani 
took place the. 25th of February, 1830, and the au- 
thor, decorated, pensioned, encouraged by Charles X., 
did not lose the royal favor, when, on the 9th of 
March following, he wrote in the preface of his 
work : " Romanticism, so often ill-defined, is noth- 
ing, taking it all in all — and this is its true definition, 
if only its militant side be regarded — but liberal- 
ism in literature. The principle of literary liberty, 
already understood by the thinking and reading 
world, is not less completely adopted by that im- 
mense crowd, eager for the pure emotions of art, that 
throngs the theatres of Paris every night. That lofty 
and puissant voice of the people, which is like that 
of God, writes that poetry henceforth shall have the 
same matter as politics I Toleration and liberty I " 

The first representation of a work that was a 



248 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 



great step forward for the romantic school, Henri 
III. et Sa Cour^ by Alexandre Dumas, had already 
taken place at the Fran9ais, February 11, 1829. 
The 30th of March, 1830, the Oddon gave Christine 
de Suide^ by the same author. 

In 1829, Alfred de Vigny had represented at the 
Frangais his translation in verse of Othello. It was 
from 1824 to 1826 that the poet published his 
principal poems. It was in 1826 that his romance 
of Cinq-Mars appeared. Victor Hugo published 
Les Orientales in 1829 ; Alfred de Musset, Les Contes 
d'Espagne et d'ltalie in 1830. It may be said then 
that before the Revolution of 1830, romanticism had 
reached its complete expansion. 

Note, also, that the government of Charles X. 
always respected the independence of writers and 
artists, and never asked for eulogies in exchange 
for the pensions and encouragement it accorded 
them with generous delicacy. It named Michelet 
Maitre de Conferences at the Ecole ISTormale in 1826. 
It pensioned Casimir Delavigne, so well known for 
his liberal opinions, and Augustin Thierry, a writer 
of the Opposition, when that great historian, hav- 
ing lost his eyesight, was without resources. It 
ordered of Horace Yernet the portraits of the King, 
the Duke of Berry, and the Duke of Angouleme, 
as well as a picture representing a "Review by 
Charles X. at the Champ-de-Mars," and named the 
painter of the battles of the Revolution and the 
Empire director of the School of Rome. 



THE FINE ABTS 249 



From the point of view of painting as well as of 
letters, the Restoration was a grand epoch. Offi- 
cial encouragement was not wanting to the paint- 
ers. Gros and Gerard received the title of Baron. 
There may be seen to-day in one of the new halls 
of the French School at the Louvre, the pretty picture 
by Heim, which represents Charles X. distributing 
the prizes for the Exposition of 1824, where Le 
Vbeu de Louis XIIL by Ingres had figured, and 
where the talent of Paul Delaroche had been dis- 
closed. In the Salon CarrS of the Louvre, the 
King, in the uniform of general-in-chief of the 
National Guards, blue coat with plaits of silver, with 
the cordon of the Saint Esprit, and in high boots, 
himself hands the cross of the Legion of Honor to 
the decorated artists, among whom is seen Heim, 
the author of the picture. 

Ingres, chief of the Classic School, and Delacroix, 
chief of the Romantic School, shone at the same 
time. In 1827, the first submitted to general ad- 
miration L' ApothSose d^Somere and Le Martyre de 
Saint Sympliorien. The same year Delacroix, who had 
already given in 1824 Le Massacre de Scio, in 1826 
La Mort du Doge Marino Faliero^ exhibited Le 
Christ au jardin des oliviers, acquired for the 
Church of Saint Paul ; Justinien, — for the Council 
of State ; and La Mo7't de Sardanapale. 

When the Musee Charles X. (the Egyptian Mu- 
seum) was opened at the Louvre, the government 
ordered the frescoes and ceilings from Gros, G^- 



250 THE DUCHESS OF BEE BY 

rard, Ingres, Schnetz, Abel de Pujol. M. Jules 
Mareschal says : — 

" The right-royal munificence oi Charles X. was not 
marked by niggardliness in the appreciation of works 
of art any more than in the appreciation of the works 
of science and letters. But, as is known, it is not by 
interest alone that the heart of the artist is gained 
and his zeal stimulated. They are far more sensitive 
to the esteem shown them, to the respect with which 
their art is surrounded, and to the taste manifested 
in the judgment of their productions. Now, who 
more than Louis XVIII. and Charles X. possessed 
the secret of awakening lively sympathy in the world 
of artists and men of letters ? Who better than their 
worthy counsellor seconded them in the impulses of 
generous courtesy so common with them? Thus 
from this noble and gracious manner of treating men 
devoted to art and letters, which marked the royal 
administration of the Fine Arts under the Restora- 
tion, sprang an emulation and a good will which on 
all sides gave an impetus to genius, and brought 
forth the new talents." 

In theatrical matters, the Viscount Sosth^nes de 
La Rochefoucauld exercised a salutary influence. 
He loved artists, and wishing to raise their situation, 
moral and social, he deplored the excommunication 
that had been laid on the players. 

Speaking of the stage, he wrote in a report ad 
dressed to Charles X., June 20, 1825 : "I perceive that 
I have forgotten the most essential side, — the moral, 



THE FINE ABTS 251 



I will even say the religious side. What glory it 
would be for a king to raise this considerable class of 
society from the abject situation in which it is com- 
pelled to live ! Sacrificed to our pleasures, it has 
been condemned to eternal death, and a king believes 
his conscience quiet ! For a long time I have cher- 
ished this thought ; we must begin by elevating these 
people, as regards their art, by reforming, little by lit- 
tle, the swarming abuses that awaken horror, and end 
by treating with Rome in order to obtain some just 
concessions that would have important results." 

In another report to the King, dated October 21, 
1826, M. de La Rochefoucauld wrote, apropos of the 
obsequies of Talma : — 

" A profound regret for me is the manner of the 
great tragedian's death. Sire, would it not be worthy 
of the reign, the breast, the conscience of Charles X., 
to draw this class of artists from the cruel position in 
which they are left by that excommunication that 
weighs upon them without distinction? Whether 
they conduct themselves well or ill, the Church repels 
them; this reprobation holds them perforce in the 
sphere of evil and disorder, since they have no inter- 
est in rising above it. Honor them, and they will 
honor themselves. It is time to undertake the reform 
of what I call a pernicious prejudice. The clergy 
itself is not far from agreeing on these ideas." 

In his relations with authors, artists, directors of 
theatres, the Viscount was courtesy itself. We read 
in one of his reports (June 17, 1825) ; — 



252 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

" Rossini is the first composer of Europe ; I have 
succeeded in attracting him to the service of France ; 
he had before been tempted in vain. Jealous of 
his success, people have cried out that he was an 
idler, that he would do nothing. I secured him by 
the methods and in the interest of the King ; I can 
do with him as I will, as with all the artists, though 
they are most difficult people. They must be taken 
through the heart. Rossini has just composed a 
really ravishing piece ; and, touched by the manner 
in which he is treated, he wishes to present it to the 
King in token of his gratitude, and wishes to receive 
nothing. He is right, but the King cannot accept 
gratis so fine a present; I propose that the King 
grant him the cross of the Legion of Honor and an- 
nounce it himself to him to-morrow — which would 
be an act full of grace. All favors must come always 
from the King. " 

Great tenacity was needed in the government of 
Charles X. to get the chefs-d^ceuvre of Rossini repre- 
sented at the Op^ra. A little school of petty and 
backward ideas rushed, under pretext of patriotism, 
but really from jealousy, systematically to drive from 
the stage everything not French. For this coterie 
Rossini and Meyerbeer were suspects, intruders, who 
must be repulsed at any cost. The government had 
the good sense to take no account of this ridiculous 
opposition, which refused to recognize that art should 
be cosmopolitan. Before seeing his name on the bills 
of our first lyric stage, Rossini required no less than 



TEE FINE ARTS 253 



nine years of patience. All Europe applauded him, 
but at Paris he had to face the fire of pamphleteers 
rendered furious by his fame. The government finally 
forced the Op^ra to mount Le Siege de Corinthe. Its 
success was so striking that the evening of the first 
representation (October 9, 1826), the public made 
almost a riot for half an hour, because Rossini, called 
loudly by an enthusiastic crowd, refused to appear 
upon the stage. 

The maestro gave at the Opdra Mo'ise, March 26, 
1826 ; Le Comte Dry, August 20, 1828 ; G-uillaume 
Tell, August 20, 1829. (At this time the first repre- 
sentations of the most important works took place 
in midsummer.) The evening of the first night of 
Guillaume Tell, the orchestra went, after the opera, 
to give a serenade under the windows of the com- 
poser, who occupied the house on the Boulevard 
Montmartre, through which the Passage Jouffroy 
has since been cut. The 10th of February, 1868, on 
the occasion of the hundredth representation of the 
same work, there was a repetition of the serenade of 
1829. The master then lived in the Rue Chauss^e 
d'Antin, No. 2. Under his windows the orchestra 
and chorus of the opera commenced the concert 
about half an hour after midnight, by the light of 
torches, and Faure sang the solos. 

The government which secured the representation 
of G-uillaume Tell was not afraid of the words " inde- 
pendence " and " liberty." A year and a half before, 
the 20th of February, 1828, there had been given at 



254 THE DUCHESS OF BEREY 

the Opera the chef-d^ceuvre of Auber, La Muette de 
Portici^ and the Duchess of Berry, a Neapolitan prm- 
cess, had applauded the Naples Revolution put into 
music. 

The government of Charles X. protected Meyerbeer 
as well as Rossini. Robert le Diahle was only played 
under the reign of Louis Philippe, but the work had 
already been received under the Restoration. 

During the reign of Charles X. the fine royal 
theatres reached the height of their splendor: the 
Frangais and the Od^on were installed in their pres- 
ent quarters ; the Opera in the hall of the Rue La 
Peletier, excellent as to acoustics and proportions ; 
the Italiens in the Salle Favart (where they remained 
from 1825 to 1838) ; the Op^ra Comique in the 
Salle Feydeau, until the month of April, 1829, when 
it inaugurated the Salle Yentadour. Talma, Mad- 
emoiselle Duchesnoir, Mademoiselle Mars, triumphed 
at the Frangais ; Mademoiselle Georges, at the 
Oddon ; Nourrit, Levasseur, Madame Damoreau, Tag- 
lioni, at the Op^ra; Sontag, Pasta, Malibran, and 
Rubini at the Italiens. 

The Viscount de la Rochefoucauld wished in every 
way to raise the moral level of the theatre. He for- 
bade subscribers, even the most influential, the entree 
behind the scenes of the Op^ra, because these per- 
sons had not always preserved there the desirable 
decorum. Thence arose rancor and spite, against 
which he had to contend during his entire adminis- 
tration. He wrote to the King, July 29, 1828 : — 



THE FINE ARTS 25 < 



" A cabal is formed to deprive me of the direction 
of the theatres ; and by whom and for what ? It is 
a struggle, Sire, between good and evil. It is 
sought to maintain, at any cost, the abuses I have 
dared to reform. They throw a thousand unjust 
obstacles in my way. Gamblers are mixed up in it 
too ; they wish to join this ignoble industry and the 
theatres. It is a monstrous infamy. The opera 
must be reached at all hazards, the coulisses must be 
entered ; these are the abuses that must be revived. 
How can it be done? By removing the theatres 
from troublesome authority. . . . Sire, Your Maj- 
esty shall decide, and must defend me with a firm 
will in the interest, I venture to declare, of order ; 
you must defend yourself also in the interest of 
morals and of art, and of a great influence of which 
it is sought to deprive you." 

M. de La Rochefoucauld had the last word, and 
remained at the head of the direction of the Fine 
Arts until the close of the Restoration. To the credit 
of his administration there must still be added the 
creation of the school of religious music, directed by 
Choron, and the foundation of the concerts of the 
conservatory with Habeneck, and a little against the 
wishes of Cherubini. The chefs-d^oeuvre of German 
music were brought out as well as those of Italian 
music. The Viscount performed his task con amove, 
as they say on the other side of the Alps. He wrote 
to Charles X. January 12, 1830 : — 

"How many reflections must have come to the 



256 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

King on regarding the picture of the Coronation I 
I divined the thought that he did not complete, and 
my eyes filled with tears. Oh, how much I feel and 
imagine all the ennui given to the King by these 
barren and unfortunate politics ! I detest them more 
even than the King detests them. Ungrateful off- 
spring of the times, they fly away, rarely leaving 
even a memory. How much I prefer the arts I " 

This was also the feeling of the Duchess of Berry, 
who, during all the Restoration, fled from surly poli- 
tics to live in the region, radiant and sacred, of art 
and charity. The taste of this Italian lady for paint- 
ing and music was a veritable passion. She was for- 
ever to be found in the museums, the expositions, the 
theatres. She caught the melodies by heart and was 
always interested in new works. An expert, a dille- 
tante, was no better judge of pictures and operas ; the 
great artists who shone in the reign of Charles X. 
received from the amiable Princess the most precious 
encouragements. Nor did she forget to encourage 
the efforts of beginners. "Who, then," she said, 
" would buy the works of these poor young people, 
if I did not?" 



XXVI 

THE THEATEE OF MADAME 

ONE of tlie most agreeable theatres of Paris, the 
Gymiiase, owed its prosperity, not to say its 
existence, to the high protection of Madame the 
Duchess of Berry. Our old men recall its vogue, at 
the time when they used to applaud Ferville, Gontier, 
Numa, Leontine Fay, Jenny Verspre, and when they 
used to gaze at the greatest ladies of the court, the 
most fashionable beauties; and they remember that 
on its fagade, from the month of September, 1824, to 
the Revolution of 1830, there was this inscription in 
letters of gold: "Th^^tre de Madame." Placed under 
the patronage of the Princess, this fortunate theatre 
was a meeting-place of the most elegant society of 
Paris. It had the same audiences as the Op^ra and 
the Italiens, and they enjoyed themselves as much in 
the entr'actes as during the acts. The spectacle was 
in the hall as well as on the stage. 

The origin of the Gymnase goes back to 1820. 
According to the privilege accorded to the new stage 
under the Decazes ministry, it was to be only a gym- 
nase composed of the young pupils of the Conserva- 
toire, and other dramatic and lyric schools, and was 

257 



258 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

authorized only to present fragments from the vari- 
ous repertories. But from the beginning it trans- 
gressed the limits set for it. Not content with simple 
pupils, it engaged actors already well known. In 
place of borrowing debris of the repertories of other 
theatres, it created one of its own. At first the 
authorities shut their eyes. But when M. de Cor- 
biere became Minister of the Interior, he tried to 
enforce the regulations and to compel the new theatre 
to confine itself to the limits of its privilege. The 
Gymnase asked for time, was very meek, prayed, 
supplicated. It would have succumbed, however, 
but for the intervention of the Duchess of Berry. 
Scribe composed for the apartments of the Tuileries a 
vaudeville, called La Hosiers, in which he invoked 
the Princess as protectress, as a beneficent fairy. 
She turned aside the fulminations of M. de Corbi^re. 
The minister was obstinate ; he wished the last word; 
but the Princess finally carried the day. The day 
after he had addressed to the director of the Gym- 
nase a warning letter, he was amazed to hear the 
Duchess of Berry say : " I hope. Monsieur, that you 
will not torment the Gymnase any longer, for, hence- 
forth, it will bear my name." 

The minister yielded. The Gymnase was saved. 
It kept its company, its repertory ; it gained the right 
to give new pieces. From the first days of Septem- 
ber, 1824, it took the name of Madame the Duchess 
of Berry. After the death of Louis XVIIL, the 16th 
of that month, the Duchess of Angouleme having re- 



THE THEATRE OF MADAME 259 

placed her title of Madame by that of Dauphiness, 
and the Duchess of Berry taking the former, the 
Gymnase was called the Theatre de Madame. 

The programme of the Gymnase was constantly 
being renewed. Scribe, whose verve was inexhaus- 
tible, wrote for this theatre alone nearly one hundred 
and fifty pieces. It is true that he had collaborators, 
— Germain Delavigne, Dupin, Mdlesville, Brazier, 
Varner, Carmouche, Bayard, etc. It was to them 
that he wrote, in the dedication of the edition of 
his works : — 

" To my collaborators : My dear friends, I have 
often been reproached for the number of my collabo- 
rators; for myself, who am happy to count among 
them only friends, I regret, on the contrary, that 
I have not more of them. I am often asked why I 
have not worked alone. To this I will reply that I 
have probably neither the wit nor the talent for that ; 
but if I had had them I should still have preferred 
our literary fraternity and alliance. The few 
works I have produced alone have been to me a 
labor ; those I have produced with you have been a 
pleasure." 

Eugene Scribe was born December 25, 1791, at 
Paris, Rue Saint-Denis, near the March^ des Inno- 
cents. His father, whom he lost early, kept a silk 
store, at the sign of the Chat Noir^ where he had 
made a considerable fortune. Eugene commenced 
his career as a dramatic waiter in 1811. From that 
time to his death (February 20, 1861), he composed 



260 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

alone, or with associates, and had represented on the 
various stages of Paris, more than four hundred plays. 
M. Vitel said, at the reception of M. Octave Feuillet, 
at the French Academy, March 26, 1863 : — 

" There was in Scribe a powerful and truly supe- 
rior faculty, that assured to him and explained to 
me his supremacy in the theatre of his day. It was 
a gift of dramatic invention that perhaps no one 
before him has possessed ; the gift of discovering at 
every step, almost apropos of nothing, theatrical 
combinations of a novel and striking effect; and of 
discovering them, not in the germ only, or barely 
sketched, but in relief, in action, and already on the 
stage. In the time needed by his confreres to pre- 
pare a plot, he would finish four, and he never 
secured this prodigious fecundity at the expense of 
originality. It is in no commonplace mould that his 
creations are cast. There is not one of his works 
that has not at least its grain of novelty." 

On his part, M. Octave Feuillet, a master in things 
theatrical, said in his reception discourse : — 

" One of the most difficult arts in the domain of 
literary invention, is that of charming the imagination 
without unsettling it, of touching the heart without 
troubling it, of amusing men without corrupting 
them ; this was the supreme art of Scribe." 

They are very pretty, very alert, very French, these 
plays of the Th^^tre de Madame. They have aged 
less than many pretentious works that have aimed at 
immortality. There is hardly one of them without 



THE THEATRE OF MADAME 261 

its ingenious idea, something truly scenic. We often 
see amateurs seeking pieces to play in the salons; 
let them draw from this repertory ; they will have but 
an embarrassment of choice among plays always 
amusing and always in good form. 

Scribe said, in his reception discourse at the French 
Academy (January 28, 1836) : — 

" It happens, by a curious fatality, that the stage 
and society are almost always in direct contradic- 
tion. Take the period of the Regency. If comedy 
were the constant expression of society, the comedy 
of that time must have offered us strong license or 
joyous Saturnalia. Nothing of the sort; it is cold, 
correct, pretentious, but decent. In the Revolution, 
during its most horrible periods, when tragedy, as 
was said, ran the streets, what were the theatres 
offering you ? Scenes of humanity, of beneficence, 
of sentimentality ; in January, 1793, during the trial 
of Louis XVI., La Belle Fermiere, a rural and senti- 
mental play ; under the Empire, the reign of glory and 
conquest, the drama was neither warlike nor exult- 
ant ; under the Restoration, a pacific government, the 
stage was invaded by lancers, warriors, and military 
costumes; Thalia wore epaulettes. The theatre is 
rarely the expression of society ; it is often the oppo- 
site." 

Scribe was an exception to the rule thus laid down 
by him. The Theatre de Madame is an exact paint- 
ing of the manners, the ideas, the language of the 
Parisian bourgeoisie in the reign of Charles X. Ville- 



262 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

main was right in saying to Scribe, on receiving him 
at the Academy : — 

" The secret of your success with the theatre lies 
in having happily seized the spirit of your century 
and in making the sort of comedies to which it is best 
adapted and which most resemble it." 

The world that the amiable and ingenious author 
excels in representing, is that of finance and the 
middle classes ; it is the society of the Chaussee 
d'Antin, rather than that of the Faubourg Saint Ger- 
main. His Gymnase repertory is of the Left Centre, 
the juste milieu^ nearer the National Guard than the 
royal guard. The protege of Madame the Duchess of 
Berry never flattered the ultras. There is not in his 
plays a single line that is a concession to their arro- 
gance or their rancor; not a single phrase, not one 
word, that shows the least trace of the prejudices of 
the old regime ; not one idea that could offend the 
most susceptible liberal. It is animated by the spirit 
of conciliation and pacification. We insist on this 
point because we see in it a proof that a Princess 
who took under her protection a kind of literature so 
essentially modern and bourgeois^ never thought of 
reviving a past destroyed forever. 

The 28th of June, 1828, when the struggles of the 
liberals and the ultras were so heated, Eugene Scribe, 
in connection with M. de Rougemont, wrote for the 
Gymnase a piece entitled Avant^ Pendant^ Apres, his- 
torical sketches in three parts. Avant was a critique 
of the view of the old regime; Pendant^ a critique 



THE THEATRE OF MADAME 263 

of those of the Revolution ; Apres an appeal for har- 
mony under the Charter and liberty. This piece 
seems to us very curious, as a true programme, a 
faithful reflection of the ideas of the haute bourgeoisie 
of Paris a little before 1830. 

The principal personage is a great liberal noble, the 
General Count de Surgy, who has served gloriously 
in the armies of the Republic and of the Empire, and 
at the close is named as deputy to represent an intelli- 
gent and wise royalism. By the side of the General 
is a certain Viscount, who has lived in a savage island 
since the wreck of La Perouse, and who, more royalist 
than the King, finds himself among strangers and 
is utterly dumfounded on beholding the new France. 
Let us cite some fragments of this piece in which 
there is more acuteness, more observation, more 
truth, than in many of the studies called psychologic 
or historic : — 

" The General. Ah, do not confuse Liberty with 
the excesses committed in her name. Liberty, as we 
understand her, is the friend of order and duty; she 
protects all rights. She wishes laws, institutions, 
not scaffolds. 

The Maequis. Alas! of what service to you 
are your courage and your wise opinions ? You are 
denounced, reduced as I am, to hiding, after shedding 
your blood for them. 

The General. Not for them but for France. 
The honor of our country took refuge in the armies, 
and I followed it there, I have done a little good; 



264 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 



I have hindered much evil, and if the choice were 
still mine, I should follow the same route. 

A Voice (m the streef). A great conspiracy dis- 
covered by the Committee of Public Safety. 

The General. Still new victims. 

The Maequis. They who did not respect the 
virtues of Malesherbes, the talents of Lavoisier, the 
youth of Barnave, will they recoil from one crime 
more ? 

The General. Decent people will get weary of 
having courage only to die. France will reawaken, 
stronger and more united, for misfortune draws to 
each other all ranks, all parties ; and already you see 
that we, formerly so divided, are understanding each 
other better at last, and love each other more than 
ever. 

The Marquis (throwing himself into the CreneraVs 
arms). Ah, you speak truly." 

This scene passes in the midst of the Terror. The 
conclusion, the moral of the piece, is as follows : — 

" The General. My friends, my fellow-citizens, 
we who, after so many storms have finally reached 
port, and who, under the shelter of the throne and 
the laws, taste that wise and moderate liberty which 
has been the object of our desires for forty years ; let 
us guard it well, it has cost us dear. Always united, 
let us no longer think of the evil done, let us see only 
the good that is, let us put away sad memories, and 
let us all say, in the new France, ' Union and forgive- 



ness.' " 



THE THEATRE OF MADAME 265 

Among the spectators more than one could recog- 
nize himself in the personages of the piece. But the 
allusions were so nicely made that no one could be 
offended. Liberals and ultras could, on the contrary, 
profit by the excellent counsels given them in the 
little play of the Theatre de Madame. 

Let us add, moreover, that Scribe never wished to 
be anything but a man of letters. There could be 
applied to him the words said by him of his confrere, 
friend, and nephew, Bayard : — 

"A stranger to all parties, he speculated on no 
revolution ; he flattered no one in power, not even 
those he loved. He solicited no honors, no places, 
no pension. He asked nothing of any one but him- 
self. He owed to his talent and his labor his honor 
and his independence." 

The device chosen by Scribe is a pen, above which 
is the motto : Inde fortuna et lihertas. The Duchess 
of Berry knew how to understand and appreciate this 
man of wit and good sense. For his part. Scribe 
avowed for the Princess a sentiment of gratitude 
that he never falsified. When the days of ill fortune 
came for her, he journeyed to bear his homage to her 
upon a foreign soil. 



XXVII 



DIEPPE 



DIEPPE has not forgotten the benefits received 
from the Duchess of Berry. It was this amia- 
ble Princess that made fashionable the pretty Nor- 
mandy city and made it the most elegant bathing 
resort of Europe. She made five visits there, of 
several weeks each, in 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, and 
1829. 

The Duchess came for the first time to Dieppe some 
time before the death of Louis XVIII. She arrived 
the 29th of July, and left the 23d of August. She 
conceived immediately a passion for the picturesque 
town, as famous for its fine beach as for its smiling 
environs. The enthusiasm manifested for her by the 
inhabitants touched her. She said to the mayor: 
" Hem-i IV. was right when he called the Dieppois his 
good friends. I shall imitate my ancestor in his love 
for them." 

The next year — the year of the coronation — 
Madame returned to her favorite city. She arrived 
there the 2d of August, 1825. More than twenty 
thousand persons were awaiting her at the boundary 
of the district, and her entry was triumphal. The 



266 



DIEPPE 267 

6th of August, the actors of the Gymnase, come from 
Paris, gave a theatrical representation in her honor. 

Madame made many excursions by sea. There was 
on her boat a tent of crimson silk, above which 
floated the white flag. The little flotilla of the royal 
navy had manoeuvres in her honor, and saluted her 
v*dth salvos of artillery. The 10th of September, the 
Princess made an excursion to Bacqueville, where 
there awaited her a numerous cortege of Cauchois 
women, all on horseback, in the costume of the coun- 
try. The 12th, she breakfasted in the ship Le Hodeur, 
and a recently constructed merchant vessel was 
launched in her presence. She departed the 14th, 
promising to return the following year. 

Accordingly, Madame left Paris for Dieppe the 
7th of August, 1826. The morrow of her arrival, 
she assisted at the inauguration of a new playhouse 
that had been built within six months. The mayor 
presented the Princess with some keys, artistically 
worked — the keys to her loge and to her salon. 
The prologue of the opening piece, entitled La Poste 
Royale^ was filled with delicate allusions and compli- 
ments. The 17th of August, there was a performance 
offered by Madame to the sailors and soldiers of the 
garrison. From his place in the parterre a subordi- 
nate of the 64th regiment of the line sang, in honor 
of the Princess, some couplets expressing the senti- 
ments of his comrades. 

The 19th, there was a visit to the ruins of the 
Chateau of Arques, immortalized by the victory of 



268 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

Henry IV. An agreeable surprise for Madame 
was a comedy for the occasion improvised by the 
actors of the Vaudeville. When the Princess pre- 
sents herself before the Chateau, a little peasant 
girl at first refuses her admittance. She has re- 
ceived orders, she says, from her father and mother 
to open to no one, no matter whom. But the air 
Vive Henri IV. is heard, and straightway both doors 
are opened wide to the Princess. An old concierge 
and his wife sing piquant verses about their first 
refusal to open to her. From here Madame is 
guided by the little peasant girl to the entrance of 
an ancient garden, where she perceives the whole 
troupe in the costume of gardeners and garden girls. 
She is offered bouquets and escorted to a dairy at 
the extremity of the ruins. The band of the guard 
plays for her her favorite air, Charmante G-ahrielle. 
A young milk-maid — the pretty actress Jenny Colon 
— offers her a cup of milk and sings couplets that 
please her greatly. Then comes the husband of the 
dairy-maid and recounts to the grand-daughter of 
Henry IVo the victory won by her ancestor over the 
Duke of Mayenne. A little later, Madame is con- 
ducted to the foot of an ancient tower, whence 
there is a view of immense extent. Here she is 
arrested by the songs of an ancient minstrel, whose 
voice is accompanied by mysterious music hidden 
in the hollows of the ruins. 

Going from surprise to surprise, the Princess trav- 
erses a long arch of verdure where she reads on es- 



DIEPPE 269 

cutcheons the dates dear to her heart. At the end 
of this long avenue, she again finds the entire troupe 
of the Vaudeville, who re-escort her to the gates of 
Chateau, singing a general chorus of farewell, amid 
cries of " Long live the King ! Long live Madame I " 
the effect of which is doubled by repeated salutes of 
artillery. 

Some days later, the 7th of September, the Duch- 
ess of Berry learned, during the day, that a fright- 
ful tempest threatened to engulf a great number of 
fishing-boats which were coming toward port. In- 
stantly she countermanded a ball that she was to 
give that evening. She proceeded in all haste to 
the point whence aid could be given to these unfortu- 
nates. Clinging to a little post on the jetty, which 
the waves covered from all sides, she directed and 
encouraged the rescue. The Dieppe correspondence 
of the Moniteur said : — 

" What has been seen at Dieppe alone, is a young 
Princess, braving all the dangers of a wild sea, re- 
maining on the end of the jetty to direct the succor 
of the fishing-boats that were seeking refuge in the 
harbor. She seemed placed there by the Deity as a 
protecting angel, and the sailors who saw her took 
courage again." 

She withdrew from the dangerous place, which 
she called her post, only when all the barks had en- 
tered port. One man only had perished. Before 
even changing her clothing the Princess sent relief 
to his widow. 



270 THE DUCHESS OF BEREY 

By her kindness, her charity, her grace, Madame 
won all hearts. Her protection revived at Dieppe 
the commerce in ivory and laces. She gave two 
brevets, one in her own name, the other in that of 
Mademoiselle, to the best two manufacturers in the 
city, and made considerable purchases. She founded 
at her expense, under the direction of the Sisters of 
Providence, a manufactory of laces where a large 
number of young girls obtained at the same time the 
means of living and the benefits of a Christian edu- 
cation. Between the Princess and her good city of 
Dieppe there was a constant exchange of delicate 
attentions and proofs of sympathy. When she was 
spoken to of preparations for departure, "Already ? " 
she said sadly. She left the 19th of September, 1826, 
and returned the following year. 

The 6th of August, 1827, Madame made an entry 
to Dieppe by the hamlet of Janval. A great crowd 
went to visit her, and greeted her with enthusiastic 
cheers. The 13th of August, the city offered her a 
great ball, at which more than twelve hundred per- 
sons attended. On the 16th, the portrait of the Prin- 
cess was unveiled at the H8tel de Ville. At the 
moment that the veil was raised, the band of the 
fifth regiment of the royal guard played the air of 
Vive Henri IV. amid long applause. The mayor of 
Dieppe, M. Cavalier, pronounced a discourse in which 
he expressed the gratitude of the inhabitants, and 
promised that the cherished image should be sur- 
rounded, age after age, by the veneration of a city 



DIEPPE 271 

whose history was one of constant devotion to its 
Kings. In the evening Madame gave a soiree at 
which the hereditary Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt 
was present. Rossini was at the piano and sang 
with his wife and with Balfe ; Nadermann played the 
harp. 

The Duchess of Berry made numerous excursions 
by sea, even in the worst weather. One day, at 
least, she was in some danger. The sailors admired 
her good spirits and her courage. " Oh," they said, 
" she is indeed a worthy descendant of Henry IV." 

The 4th of September, 1827, Mademoiselle, with 
her governess, the Duchess of Gontaut, came to join 
her mother at Dieppe. The little Princess was to be 
eight years old the 21st of the month. A formal re- 
ception was given her. Her arrival was announced 
by the noise of cannon and the sound of bells. The 
Baron de Viel-Castel, sub-prefect of the city, made a 
complimentary address to her. She responded in the 
most gracious manner, " I know how much you love 
my mother, and I loved you in advance." 

Madame, who had gone to meet her daughter at 
Osmonville, three leagues from Dieppe, took her in 
her carriage. The horses proceeded at a walk, and 
the people never wearied of admiring the gentle little 
Princess. On the morrow, Madame received the 
homage of the functionaries. The mayor said to her : 
" Your Royal Highness is in a country filled with 
your ancestors, in a city honored by Henry IV. with 
special benevolence,, v/hich Louis XIV. rev/arded for 



272 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

its fidelity by calling it ' his good city,' which your 
august aunt, Madame the Dauphiness, deigned to 
choose for her return to France, and which received 
her, triumphant and adored." 

An elegant breakfast service in ivory, with her 
arms, was presented to Mademoiselle by a group of 
very young people. She next received a deputation 
of the fisherwomen of Du Polet, the faubourg of 
Dieppe. They came in their picturesque costumes, — 
a skirt falling a little below the knee, men's buckled 
shoes, a striped apron of white and red, an enormous 
head-dress, with broad tabs, and great ear-rings. They 
sang couplets expressing a lively attachment to the 
family of the Bourbons. In their enthusiasm they 
asked and obtained leave to kiss the little Princess. 

On the 6th of September, there was a fete at the 
ruins of the Castle of Arques. From seven in the 
morning the crowd gathered on the hillside of Saint 
Etienne, at the edge of the coast between Martin- 
Eglise and the village of Arques. It is a magnificent 
site, which, towering above the valley, is surrounded 
on all sides by grim hill-slopes, while in the distance 
is the sea, along the edge of which extends the city 
of Dieppe, like a majestic dike. A mimic battle took 
place in the presence of Madame and her daughter,. 
on the ground where Henry IV. had delivered the fa- 
mous battle of September 21, 1589. Numerous strokes 
on the flags of different colors indicated the lines of 
the B^arnais, and circumscribed the enceinte occupied 
by his troops. An obelisk had been placed at the high- 



DIEPPE 273 

est point of this sort of entrenched camp ; in the 
centre was a post tent, under which a rich breakfast 
had been prepared for the two princesses. During 
the repast, both put their names to a subscription to 
erect a monument commemorating the victory of 
their ancestor. 

The 14th of September, the city offered a ball to 
Madame and Mademoiselle. The little Princess 
danced two quadrilles. The 15th, she offered lunch 
to a great number of children of her own age, and 
afterward went with them to the theatre. The 18th, 
at the close of the play, some scenes were represented 
before Madame, mingled with verses, expressing the 
regret of the city at the near departure of Madame. 
The next day, the Princess and her daughter left 
Dieppe, between double lines of troops and National 
Guards. 

The journey of the Duchess of Berry in the West, 
in 1828, prevented her from going that year to 
Dieppe. She came in 1829, but it was for the last 
time. She arrived the 6th of August, with her 
daughter. The next day she danced at a subscrip- 
tion ball given by the city and by the visitors to the 
baths; the 8th she received a visit from the Dau- 
phiness, who passed three days with her. 

For every fete there was a corresponding good 
work. The Princess said : " I wish that while I am 
enjoying myself the poor may also have their share." 
The 18th of August, she visited the bazaar opened for 
the benefit of the indigent. Mademoiselle had con- 



274 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



ceived the idea of writing lier name on little objects 
of painted wood, wliicli v/ere bid for at their weight 
in gold. The 24th, Madame gave a concert, at which 
the Sontag sisters were heard and some stanzas of 
the Viscount of Castel-bajac were recited. The 25th, 
the city offered a ball to Mademoiselle, at which the 
grace of the little Princess, her tact, and her preco- 
cious amiability, excited surprise. The 9th of Sep- 
tember, the inauguration of the monument commem- 
orative of the victory of Henry IV. took place in the 
presence of Madame and her daughter. It was a 
column indicating the point where the army of 
Mayenne debouched to surround the King's troops, 
when, the fog rising, the artillery of the castle could 
be brought into play, and threw into disorder the 
ranks of the Leaguers. The inauguration interested 
the Duchess much. The troops of the line and the 
National Guard had established bivouacs where the 
princesses read with jo}^ such inscriptions as these: 
" The young Henry will find again the arquebusiers 
of Henry IV. — The flag of the 12th will always 
rally to the white plume ! — Two Henrys — one love, 
one devotion." 

A table of forty covers had been arranged under a 
pavilion draped with flags. After the repast Madame 
and Mademoiselle danced several quadrilles on the 
grass. The fSte was charming. An expression of 
joy was depicted on every face. 

At the time of her various sojourns at Dieppe, the 
Duchess of Berry went to visit the Orleans family at 



DIEPPE 275 

the Chateau d'Eu. She manifested toward her aunt, 
Marie-Amelie, the liveliest affection, and had no 
courtier more amiable and assiduous than the young 
Duke of Chartres, whom, it is said, she wished to 
have as husband for Mademoiselle. The 9th of Sep- 
tember, she had been at the baptismal font, with the 
Duke of Angouleme, the Duke of Montpensier, the 
latest son of the Duke of Orleans. She was very 
fond of her god-son, and nothing was more agreeable 
to her than a reunion at the Chateau d'Eu, where 
Mademoiselle was always happy, playing with her 
young cousins. 

The Duchess of Berry and her daughter returned 
to Saint Cloud the 16th of September, 1829. On leav- 
ing, Mademoiselle said to the Dieppois : " My friends, 
I will come back next year, and I will bring you my 
brother." Neither she nor her mother was to return. 



XXVIII 

THE PEINCE DE POLIGNAC 

AT the very moment that the Duchess of Berry, 
happy and smiling, was tranquilly taking the 
sea-baths at Dieppe, an event occurred at Paris that 
was the signal for catastrophes. The 9th of August, 
1829, the Moniteur published the decree constituting 
the cabinet, in which were included the Prince de 
Polignac as Minister of Foreign Affairs; Count de 
La Bourdonnaye as Minister of the Interior ; and as 
Minister of War, the General Count de Bourmont. 
The next day the Dehats said : — 

" So here is once more broken the bond of love and 
confidence that was uniting the people to the Mon- 
arch. Here once again are the court with its old 
rancors, the Emigration with its prejudices, the priest- 
hood with its hatred of liberty, coming to throw 
themselves between France and her King. What she 
has conquered by forty years of travail and misfor- 
tune is taken from her ; what she repels with all the 
force of her will, all the energy of her deepest desires, 
is violently imposed upon her. Ill-fated France ! 
Ill-fated King ! " 

The 15th of August the DSbats reached a parox- 
ysm of fury : — 
276 



THE PRINCE BE POLIGNAC 211 



" If from all the battle-fields of Europe where our 
Grand Army has left its members, if from Belgium, 
where it left the last fragments of its body, and from 
the place where Marshal Ney fell shot, there arise 
cries of anger that resound in our hearts, if the col- 
umn of the Grand Army seems to tremble through all 
its bronze battalions, whose is the fault? No, no; 
nothing is lacking in this ministry of the counter- 
Re volution. Waterloo is represented. ... M. de 
Polignac represents in it the ideas of the first Emigra- 
tion, the ideas of Coblenz ; M. de La Bourdonnaye the 
faction of 1815 with its murderous friendships, its 
law of proscription, and its clientele of southern mas- 
sacres. Coblenz, Waterloo, 1815, these are the three 
personages of the ministry. Turn it how you will, 
every side dismays. Every side angers. It has no 
aspect that is not sinister, no face that is not menac- 
ing. Take our hatreds of thirty years ago, our sor- 
rows and our fears of fifteen years ago, all are 
there, all have joined to insult and irritate France. 
Squeeze, wring this ministry, it drips only humilia- 
tions, misfortunes, dangers." 

The Abb^ V^drenne, historian of Charles X., 
wrote : — 

" How is the language of the writers of the Dehats, 
who called themselves royalists, to be understood? 
Was not Charles X. at Coblenz ? Did not Chateau- 
briand emigrate with the King and the princes? 
Did he not follow Louis XVIII. to Ghent? Was he 
not in his council at the very hour of the battle of 



278 THE DUCHirsS OF LEURY 

Waterloo ? Tliey might as well have stigmatized the 
white flag and demanded the proscription of the 
King's dynasty. But such was their blindness that 
they feared nothing for it. ' The throne runs no risk,' 
said Chateaubriand, ' let us tremble for liberty only.' 
Yet the nomination of the Polignac ministry was an 
error. It appeared to be a provocation, a sort of de- 
fiance. Charles X. doubtless only wished to defend 
himself, but in choosing such ministers at such an 
hour, he appeared to be willing to attack." 

From the debut of the new cabinet, the Opposition, 
to use a recent expression, showed itself irreconcil- 
able. It raised a long cry of anger, and declared war 
to the death on Prince Polignac. 

" It is in vain," said the Dehats^ " that the minis- 
ters demand of Time to efface with a sweep of his 
wing their days, their actions, their thoughts, of yes- 
terday ; these live for them, as for us. The shadow 
of their past goes before them and traces their route. 
They cannot turn aside ; they must march ; they must 
advance. — But I wish to turn back. — You cannot. 
— But I shall support liberty, the Charter, the Opposi- 
tion. — You cannot. March, then, march, under the 
spur of necessity, to the abyss of Cowp^ d'JEtat! 
March ! Your life has judged and condemned you. 
Your destiny is accomplished." 

The man who excited hatreds so violent was Jules 
de Polignac. He was born at Versailles, May 14, 
1780. As the German historian, Gervinus, has said: 
" His past weighed upon him like a lash of political 



THE PRINCE BE POLIGNAG 'z.1^ 

iuterdict. He was the son of the Duchess of Poli- 
gnac, who had been the object of so many calumnies, 
and who had never been pardoned for the intimate 
friendship with which she was honored by the unfor- 
tunate queen, Marie Antoinette, a friendship that 
had evoked against her, first all the jealousies of the 
envious courtiers, and then all the aversion of the 
people. It was believed that a like favoritism could 
be recognized in the relations of the son of the Duch- 
ess vfith Charles X. To this unpopularity, inherited 
from his mother, was joined another that was directed 
against the person of the emigre.^' 

After having been one of the courtiers of the little 
court at Coblenz, he had taken service for some tim.e 
in Russia, and then passed into England, where he 
had been one of the most intimate confidants, and 
one of the most active agents of the Count d'Artois. 
Sent secretly into France, with his elder brother, the 
Duke Armand de Polignac, he was, like the latter, 
compromised in the Cadoudal conspiracy. Their trial 
is remarkable for the noble strife of devotion, in which 
each of the brothers pleaded the cause of the other at 
the expense of his own. Armand was condemned to 
death. His wife threw herself at the feet of the First 
Consul, who, thanks to the intercession of Josephine, 
commuted the penalty of death to perpetual confine- 
ment. Jules was condemned to prison, and shared 
the captivity of his brother. Confined at first in the 
castle of Ham, then in the Temple, then at Vin^ 
cennes, they obtained, at the time of the marriage of 



280 THE BV CHESS OF BERBT 

Napoleon with Marie Louise, their transfer to a hos- 
pital. There they knew the General Mallet, but the 
part they were suspected of taking in his conspiracy 
was never proven. When the allied armies entered 
France, they succeeded in escaping, and rejoined the 
Count d'Artois at Vesoul. They penetrated to Paris 
some days before the capitulation, and displayed the 
white flag there the 3d of March, 1814. 

Peer of France, field-marshal, ambassador, the 
Prince Jules de Polignac was one of the favorites of 
the Restoration. On the proposition of M. de Cha- 
teaubriand, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, he had 
him named, in 1823, ambassador to London, where 
he had shown a genuine talent for diplomacy. The 
example of England made him think that in France 
the liberties of the constitutional regime could be 
combined with the directing influence of an aris- 
tocracy. That was his error and the cause of his 
fall. Some weeks before his accession to the minis- 
try, he had solemnly affirmed in the Chamber of 
Peers, that he considered the Charter as a solemn 
pact, on which rested the monarchical institutions of 
France, and as the heavenly sign of a serene future. 
But the liberals did not believe his word, and accused 
him of striving to re-establish the old regime. 

Even at court the accession of the Prince de Poli- 
gnac did not fail to cause apprehension. Charles X., 
having announced to the Duchess of Gontaut that 
he was going to appoint him minister, added : " This 
news must give you pleasure ; you know him well, I 




THE PRINCE DE POLIGNAC. 



THE PRINCE DE POLIGNAG 281 



believe." The Duchess replied : " He has been absent 
a long time. I only knew him when very young." 
The King resumed : " Do not speak of it ; it is my 
secret as yet." Madame de Gontaut could not keep 
from smiling, for she held several letters from London 
in her hand, among others one from the sister-in-law 
of the Duke of Wellington, announcing the news. 
Charles X. wished to see the letters. " He is good, 
loyal," they said, " loving the King as one loves a 
friend, but feeble, and with bad surroundings. It is 
doubted whether he can ever rise to the height of the 
post in which the King wishes to place him." 

Charles X., wounded by the indiscretion of the 
Prince, and also by that of the Duke of Wellington, 
who divulged what he himself was keeping secret, 
returned the letter to Madame de Gontaut, and 
remarked : — 

" It is very thoughtless in Jules to have spoken of 
it so soon, and in the Duke to have published it." 
The Duchess of Gontaut, who was used to frank talk 
with the King, said : " In the circumstances existing, 
I long for, I confess it frankly, and at the risk of 
displeasing Your Majesty, yes, I long for the Marti- 
gnac ministry," 

Then, adds the Duchess in her unpublished 
Memoirs, the King, more impatient than ever, turned 
his back on me, and took his way to his apartment. I 
had had the courage to tell him my thought and the 
truth. I did not repent it. When we saw each other 
again the same day he did not speak to me again of it. 



282 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

One of those most devoted to the elder branch, the 
Duke Ambroise de la Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville, 
also says in his Memoirs : — 

" The King sincerely wished for the Charter, what- 
ever may be said, but he wished for the monarchy ; 
he, therefore, decided to change ministers who had 
made promises that seemed to him fatal, and to replace 
them by others whose principles suited him better. 
He was not happy in this choice, it must be agreed. 
He took as Minister of Foreign Affairs and President 
of the Council the Prince de Polignac. For a long 
time public opinion had foreseen this choice, and 
dreaded it. At the commencement of the Restoration 
M. de Polignac for more than a year had refused to 
recognize the Charter and to swear fidelity to it, 
which made him regarded as the pronounced enemy 
of our institutions. Was this antipathy real ? I do 
not think so. He had for a long time lived in Eng- 
land, as ambassador, and was thoroughly imbued with 
principles at once very constitutional and very aristo- 
cratic, after the English fashion. His devotion was 
great, as well as his personal merit, but his resources 
as a statesman were not so much so; he took his 
desire to do well for the capacity to do well, and he 
mistook." 

When he assumed the direction of affairs the 
Prince de Polignac was wholly surprised at the sys- 
tematic and obstinate opposition that he encountered. 
As M. Guizot said, "he was sincerely astonished 
that he was not willingly accepted as a minister 



THE PBINCE DE POLIGNAC 283 

devoted to the constitutional regime. But the pub- 
lic, without troubling itself to know if he were 
sincere or not, persisted in seeing in him the cham- 
pion of the old regime and the standard-bearer of the 
counter-Re volution." 

Although he had passed a part of his life in Eng- 
land, first as emigrS, then as ambassador, and had 
married as his first wife an English lady, Miss Camp- 
bell, and as his second another, the daughter of Lord 
Radcliffe, the Prince de Polignac was French at 
heart. 

No Minister of Foreign Affairs in France had in 
higher degree the sentiment of the national dignity. 
Yet this is the way the Debats expressed itself, the 16th 
of August, 1829, about a man who, the next year, at 
the time of the glorious Algiers Expedition, was to 
hold toward England language so proud and firm : — 

"The manifesto of M. de Polignac comes to us 
from England. That is very simple. We have a 
minister who scarcely knows how to speak anything 
but English. It takes time to relearn one's native 
tongue when one has forgotten it for many years. 
It appears even that one never regains the accent in 
all its freedom and purity. In fact, the English 
have not given us M. de Polignac ; they have sold 
him to us. That people understand commerce so 
well." 

Despite all the violent criticisms, all the implac- 
able hatreds by which he was incessantly assailed, 
the Prince de Polignac was a noble character, and no 



284 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

one should forget the justness of soul with which, 
from the commencement to the end of his career, he 
supported misfortune and captivity. The Viscount 
Sosthenes de La Rochefoucauld, afterwards the 
Duke of Doudeauville, says, in his Memoirs: — 

" The purest honor, the loftiest disinterestedness, 
the sincerest devotion, are not everything, there is 
needed a capacity for affairs, a knowledge of men, 
which experience alone procures and which even the 
strongest will cannot give. M. de Polignac had all 
the qualities of the most devoted subject, but his 
talent did not rise to the height of his position. If 
it had been necessary only to suffer and to march to 
death, no one, surely, could have equalled him ; but 
more was requisite, and he remained beneath the 
level of the circumstances he thought he was over- 
coming ; the fall of the throne was the consequence. 
How he developed, though, and grew great when in 
duress, and who should flatter himself that he could 
bear up with a firmness more unshaken against the 
severest trials ? If M. de Polignac is not a type of 
the statesman, he will at least remain the complete 
model of the virtues of the Christian and the private 
citizen." 

The Prince de Polignac was mistaken, but he 
acted in good faith. No one can dispute his faults, 
but none can suspect the purity of his intentions. 
Unfortunately his royalism had in it something of 
mysticism and ecstasy that made of this gallant man 
a sort of illuinine. He sincerely believed that he 



THE PRINCE DE POLIGNAC 285 

had received from God the mission to save the 
throne and the altar, and foreseeing neither difficul- 
ties nor obstacles, regarding all uncertainty and all 
fear as unworthy of a gentleman and a Christian, he 
had in himself and in his ideas, that blind, imper- 
turbable confidence that is the characteristic of fanat- 
ics. In a period less troubled, this great noble would 
perhaps have been a remarkable minister of foreign 
affairs, but in the stormy time when he took the helm 
in hand, he had neither sufficient prudence nor suffi- 
cient experience to resist the tempest and save the 
ship from the wreck in which the dynasty was to go 
down. 



XXIX 

GENERAL DE BOURMONT 

THE new Secretary of War awoke no less lively- 
anger than the Prince de Polignac. He was 
a general of great merit, bold to temerity, brave to 
heroism, and a tactician of the first order. But his 
career had felt the vicissitudes of politics, and like so 
many of his contemporaries, — more, perhaps, than 
any of them, — he had played the most contradictory 
parts. Equally intrepid in the army of Cond^, in the 
Vend^an army, and in the Grand Army of Napoleon, 
he had won as much distinction under the white flag 
as under the tricolor. The Emperor, who was an 
expert in military talent, having recognized in him a 
superior military man, had rewarded his services bril- 
liantly. But it is difficult to escape from the memo- 
ries of one's childhood and first youth. 

General Count de Bourmont, born September 2, 
17T3, at the Chateau of Bourmont (Maine-et-Loire), 
amid the " Chouans," had shared their religious and 
monarchical passions. Officer of the French Guards 
at sixteen, and dismissed by the Revolution, he fol- 
lowed his father at the beginning of the Emigration, 
lost him at Turin, then went to join the Count 
286 



GENEBAL BE BOUEMONT 287 

d'Artois at Coblenz. He took part in the campaign 
of 1792, until the disbandment of the Prince's army, 
served as a simple cavalryman in the army of Conde, 
then threw himself into La Vendee in the month of 
October, 1794. He was second in command of the 
troops of Sc^peaux. The Vendean insurrection of 
1799 recognized him as one of its chiefs. Victor at 
Louvern^, he seized Mans the 15th of October, and 
was the last to lay down his arms. 

Bourmont had a passion for the life of the camp. 
When the royal troops had laid down their arms, he 
was ready to fight in the ranks of the imperial troops 
rather than not to fight at all. He distinguished 
himself in the Russian campaign, contributed to the 
victory of Lutzen, made a heroic defence at Nugent 
during the campaign in France, and was named 
general of division by the Emperor. 

During the Hundred Days, General de Bourmont, 
guilty as was Marshal Ney, abandoned the cause of 
Napoleon as the Marshal had that of Louis XVIII. 
But there were attenuating circumstances for their 
conduct. One could not resist the prestige of the 
Emperor, nor the other that of the King. What 
aofP-ravated the situation of General de Bourmont 
was that, after having sought a command from Napo- 
leon, as Marshal Ney had from Louis XVIIL, he 
deserted three days before the battle of Waterloo. 
The royalist, the soldier of the army of Conde, the 
" Chouan " had suddenly reappeared under the Gen- 
eral of the Empire. His King had summoned him, 



288 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

and impelled hy a false sentiment of conscience, he 
had responded to the appeal of his King. But he was 
wrongly suspected of having delivered to the English 
and Prussians the plans of Napoleon. 

One may read in the Memoirs of the Duke Am- 
broise de Doudeauville : — 

" The Count de Bourmont was appointed Minister 
of War. He had to meet grave prejudices. It was 
claimed that, having accepted service under Bonaparte 
in the Hundred Days, he had deserted a few hours 
before the battle of Waterloo, taking with him a great 
part of the troops, and carrying to the enemy the 
plans and projects of the campaign. I owe it to the 
truth to say that this story is greatly exaggerated. I 
have it from Marshal Gerard himself — and his testi- 
mony cannot be suspected — that some days before 
this battle M. de Bourmont had written him that, 
summoned by Louis XVIII., he believed it his duty 
to go to him, but promised to guard the most religious 
silence. He kept his word, went alone, carried away 
no plan, and faithfully kept the secret." 

The Duke adds : — 

*' I knew, from Charles X. himself, that he was very 
greatly surprised at the accusation of desertion 
brought against M. de Bourmont when he appointed 
him minister. He had not the least idea that that 
reproach could be addressed to him, for he knew that 
the General had but obeyed the orders of Louis XVIIL, 
his legitimate sovereign." 

Does not this phrase show the illusions of which 



GENERAL BE BOURMONT 289 

Charles X. was the victim ? He never even suspected 
that his choice was a challenge to the old soldiers of 
the Empire. Yet the violence of the liberal press 
certainly extended the range of insult. "As for 
the other," said the Journal des Dehats disdainfully, 
" on what field of battle did he win his epaulets ? 
There are services by which one may profit, which 
may even be liberally paid for, but which no people 
ever dreamed of honoring." And, as if the allusion 
was not sufficiently transparent, " I see," added the 
same writer, " but one kind of discussion in which 
the minister can engage with credit — that of the 
military code, and the chapter relating to desertion 
to the enemy. There are among our new ministers 
those who understand the question to perfection." 
As for the Figaro^ it confined itself to quoting this 
line from a proclamation of the General during the 
Hundred Days : '' The cause of the Bourbons is forever 
lost ! April, 1815. — Bourmont." 

Despite the virulent attacks of the journals. General 
de Bourmont, who had distingitished himself on so 
many battle-fields, had authority with the troops, and 
the Expedition of Algiers the next year was to show 
him to be a military man of the first order. If 
Charles X. committed an error in naming him as 
minister, he committed a greater one in sending him 
away from Paris before the " ordinances," for no one 
was more capable of securing the success of a coup 
cfetat M. de Chateaubriand remarks : — 

" If the General had been in Paris at the time of the 



290 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



catastrophe, the vacant portfolio of war would not 
have fallen into the hands of M. de Polignac. Before 
striking the blow, had he consented to it, M. de 
Bourmont would beyond doubt have massed at Paris 
the entire royal guard; he would have provided 
money and supplies so that the soldiers would have 
lacked for nothing." 

We are inclined to think, however, that when he 
'took the portfolio of war General de Bourmont was 
not dreaming of a coup d'etat^ and that the Prince de 
Polignac had as yet no thought of it. This minister, 
who was so decried, showed at the outset such an 
inoffensive disposition that the Opposition was sur- 
prised and disturbed by it. 

" The minister," said the Debats, "boasts of his mod- 
eration, because in the ten days of his existence, he has 
not put France to fire and sword, because the prisons 
are not gorged, because we still walk the streets in 
freedom. From all this, nevertheless, flows a striking 
lesson. There are men who were going to make an 
end of the spirit of the century. Well, they do noth- 
ing I " 

The journals of the Right lamented this inaction. 

"If the ministerial revolution," said the Quofi- 
dienne, " reduces itself to this, we shall retire to some 
profound solitude where the sound of the falling 
monarchy cannot reach us." 

Then, more royalist than the King, M. de Lamen- 
nais wrote on the subject of the new ministers : " It is 
stupidity to which fear counsels silence." M. Guizot 



GENERAL BE BOUEMONT 291 

says in his Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire de mon 
temps : — 

" This ministry, formed to overcome the Revolution 
and save the monarchy, remained inert and sterile. 
The Opposition insultingly charged it with impotence ; 
it called it the hectoring ministry, the dullest of min- 
istries, and, for answer, it prepared the expedition 
of Algiers and prorogued the Chambers, protesting 
always its fidelity to the Charter, promising itself to 
get out of its embarrassments by a majority and a 
conquest." 

The Duchess of Berry had seen without apprehen- 
sion, and perhaps even with pleasure, the nomination 
of the new ministers. Tranquillity reigned in France. 
There was no symptom of agitation, no sign of dis- 
quiet in the circle surrounding the Princess, and after 
an agreeable stay of some weeks at Dieppe, she pro- 
ceeded to the south, where her journey was a 
triumph. 



XXX 

THE JOUENEY IN THE SOUTH 

THE journey of the Duchess of Berry in the south 
of France, in 1829, was scarcely less triumphant 
than that she had made in the Vendee the year before. 
The object of the Princess was to meet her family of 
the Two Sicilies, which was traversing the kingdom 
on the way from Italy to Spain, to escort to Madrid 
the young Marie-Christine, who was about to espouse 
King Ferdinand VII. — his fourth wife. 

Born October 13, 1784, King since March 19, 1808, 
Ferdinand VII. had married, first, Marie Antoinette, 
Princess of the Two Sicilies; second, Isabelle-Marie 
Frangoise, Princess of Portugal; third, Marie- Jos^phe- 
Am^lie, Princess of Saxony. He had chosen for his 
fourth wife, Marie-Christine, Princess of the Two 
Sicilies, born April 27, 1806. Sister of the father of 
the Duchess of Berry, Marie-Christine was the daugh- 
ter of FrauQois I., King of the Two Sicilies, and his sec- 
ond wife, the Infanta of Spain, Marie-Isabelle, born 
October 13, 1784, and sister of Ferdinand II. The 
King of the Two Sicilies was escorting his daughter, 
Maiie-Christine, to the King of Spain, where she was 

to marry at Madrid the 11th of December, 1829. 

292 



THE JOURNEY IN THE SOUTH 293 



Ferdinand VII. had a brother, the Infante FranQois 
de Paule, born March 10, 1784, who had espoused a 
princess of the Two Sicilies, Louise-Caroline-Marie 
Isabelle, born October 24, 1804, sister of the Duchess 
of Berry. From this marriage was born the Infante 
Don Francisco of d'Assisi, husband of Queen Isabelle. 
The Infante and Infanta Francois de Paule traversed 
the south of France, to meet the Bourbons of Naples. 
We may add that the Duchess of Orleans, sister of 
King Frangois I., aunt of Marie-Christine and of the 
Duchess of Berry, went Avith her husband to the 
eastern frontier of France to meet her relatives. 

The Duchess of Berry, authorized by Charles X. 
to go to the south to meet her father, her step-mother, 
and her sisters, left Saint Cloud, October 10, 1829. 
The 17th, she was at Lyons, whither she promised 
to return. At Valence, she found her step-brother 
and her sister, the Infante and Infanta Francois de 
Paule, and returned with them to Lyons, where, 
October 20, she was greeted by a great crowd, eager 
to look upon her face. At the Grand Thd^tre Their 
Highnesses assisted at a performance, in which the 
actor Bernard-Le6n, Jr., played the part of Poudret 
in Le Coiffem^ et le Perruquier, 

Their Highnesses quitted Lyons, October 23, vis- 
ited the Grande-Chartreuse the 24th, and were at 
Grenoble the 25th, where they met the Bourbons of 
Naples, who arrived in that city the 31st, coming 
from Chambery. The Duchess of Berry, the Infante 
and Infanta Francois de Paule, the Duke Und Ducli- 



294 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

ess of Orleans, received them at their entry into 
France. Everywhere, from the frontier to Grenoble, 
the Sicilian Majesties were met by the authorities, 
the mayors, the clergy. Triumphal arches were 
erected by various communes. The one constructed 
by the Marquis de Marcieu, in the wood of the 
avenue of his Chateau of Trouvet, was especially 
remarked. This arch formed three porticoes, sur- 
mounted by the arms of France, Naples, and Spain. 
Above were these words, " Love to all the Bourbons." 
The grand avenue of the chateau was draped from 
one end to the other. Every tree bore a white flag. 
Garlands of verdure, mingled with these flags, 
formed an arbor that stretched as far as the eye could 
see. Thirty young girls, clad in white, crowned 
with flowers, and holding little flags in their hands, 
were ranged in two lines near the arch. They 
offered to the King of Naples, to the Queen and the 
princesses, bouquets and baskets of fruits. When 
the cortege arrived before Grenoble, the mayor said: 
"Sire, the descendants of Louis XIV. have impre- 
scriptible rights to our respect, to our love. We can 
never forget their origin nor the indissoluble bonds 
that bind them to our native land, and still less 
the virtues and goodness that distinguish this 
illustrious dynasty." He added : " Sire, the city of 
Grenoble deems itself happy in being the first city 
of France to present to Your Majesties the homage 
of our respects, and to thank you for the noble pres- 
ent you have made to our land in the person of your 



THE JOUBNEY IN THE SOUTH 29t) 



illustrious daughter, Madame, Duchess of Berry. 
May the future Queen of Spain long embellish the 
throne on which she is about to take her seat, and 
reign over the hearts of her new subjects as her 
heroic sister reigns over ours. Long live the King ! 
Forever live the Bourbons ! " 

The Duchess of Berry accompanied her relatives 
to the Pyrenees. The journey was a long series 
of ovations. Marie-Christine, who was about to 
ascend the throne of Spain, never ceased to ad- 
mire the riches and beauty of France. " Ah, my 
sister," said the Duchess of Berry to her, " do not 
contemplate it too much. You would not be able 
to quit it ! " During the entire passage — at Valence, 
Avignon, Montpellier, Nimes — the people rivalled 
the authorities in making the welcome as brilliant as 
possible. Perpignan was reached the 10th of Novem- 
ber. The King and Queen of Naples, the Duchess 
of Berry, and the future Queen of Spain, journeyed 
together in an uncovered caliche. Madame accom- 
panied her relatives to the frontier at Perth us, where 
she bade them adieu, the 13th of November. The 
French troops from the foot of Bellegarde flanked 
the right of the road. At the first salute fired from 
the fort, an immense crowd of French and Spanish, 
who occupied the heights, greeted with harmonious 
shouts the appearance of the royal carriage. On an 
arch of triumph, erected on the Spanish side of the 
frontier, floated the flags of the three peoples placed 
under the sceptre of the Bourbons. That of France 



296 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

was in the middle and seemed to protect those of 
Spain and Naples on either side. Thus was indi- 
cated the mother branch of the three reigning fami- 
lies. The adieux were made with effusion. The 
Duchess of Berry fell at the feet of her father, who 
hastened to raise her and embrace her tenderly. The 
two sisters threw themselves into each other's arms. 
Then they parted. 

While the Bourbons of Naples were entering on 
the soil of Spain, the Duchess of Berry returned to 
Perpignan. She left there the 14th, and the ovations 
were renewed along the route. The 16th, she passed 
through Montpellier, where she admired the prome- 
nade of the Peyrou, whence are perceived the sea, 
the Pyrenees, and the Alps, and saw the foundations 
prepared for an equestrian statue of Louis XIY. 
The 17th, at Tarascon, she breakfasted with the Mar- 
quis de Gras-Preville, and was present at the games in- 
stituted by good King Rene, — tambourine dances and 
the races of the Tarasque. The 18th, at Aries, she 
visited the Cloister of Saint Trophime, and the 
Roman circus. About eighteen thousand persons 
were crowded on the ancient benches. The gal- 
leries resounded with military music which, borne 
from echo to echo, spread beneath all the arches. 
In the evening the entire city was illuminated. From 
a balcony, the Princess assisted at a pegoulade^ a sort 
of torchlight promenade of five or six hundred young 
people, who bore pieces of tarred rope lighted at one 
end. She desired to see again these bizarre and 



THE JOURNEY IN THE SOUTH 297 

picturesque effects of light, this joyous procession, 
this clamorous animation, and she had the enthusias- 
tic cortege file a second time under her windows. 
The 21st, she visited the Roman theatre at Orange, 
one of the most curious ruins of the world. The 23d, 
she passed again through Lyons. The 28th, she was 
at the Tuileries for dinner. 

The Duchess of Berry returned enchanted with 
her journey. Never had the throne of the Bourbons 
seemed to her more solid, never were the advantages 
of the family pact revealed in a more brilliant man- 
ner. The Moniteur wrote : " The Princess Marie- 
Christine has heard her name mingling in the air 
with that of her whose son is one day to be King of 
France. Happy the new Queen, if her presence shall 
deliver Spain from the factions that still divide it, 
and if, finding beyond the mountains the same order, 
devotion, prosperity, as in our provinces, she can cry, 
' There are no longer any Pyrenees.' " 

The Duchess of Berry had not found the inclina- 
tions of the south less royalist than that of La Ven- 
due. Everywhere protestations were made to her, 
verging on lyrism, on idolatry ; the idea of suspecting 
such demonstratio^is never crossed her mind. She 
persuaded herself that France loved her as much as 
she loved France. 



INDEX 



Adelaide, Madame, remains of, re- 
interred in Saint-Denis, 27. 

Almoner, Grand, the, 90. 

Ampulla, the holy, containing the 
coronation oil, 127. 

Angouleme, Duke of, his character 
and qualities, 48 et seq.; deserves 
credit for his part in the Spanish 
expedition, 49 ; marriage of, to 
the daughter of Louis XVI., 50. 

Angouleme, Duchess of, 51 et seq.; 
her character and habits, 51 ; her 
apartments, 52 ; her charity, 52, 
53 ; hrusqueness of, 55 ; not de- 
ceived, 55, 56 ; affection of Charles 
X. for, 57 ; absent from the expi- 
atory solemnity at Paris, 173; 
insulted at the review of the 
National Guard, 203. 

Arques, Chateau of, reception of 
the Duchess of Berry at, 267. 

Aumale, Duke d', 73. 

Avant, Pendant, Apres, Scribe's 
drama, 262. 

Barrere, advocates the destruction 
of the royal tombs at Saint- 
Denis, 22. 

Barthelemy, celebrates the corona- 
tion in verse, 159= 

Berry, the Duke of, remains in- 
terred in Saint-Denis, 38. 

Berry, Duchess of, present at the 
death of Louis XVIII, , 3; her 
optimism, 9; her friendship for 
the Duchess of Angouleme, 58; 
her character and manner, 58, 
59; her love of freedom, 59; her 
gaiety, 60; the queen of elegance. 



61 ; never meddled in politics, 62 ; 
led an active life, 63 ; very char- 
itable, 64, 65, 67; her pleasure 
house Rosny, 65 ; instances of her 
charity and kindness of heart, 
67 et seq. ; her devotion to France 
and to her son, 70 ; her affection 
for her aunt, the Duchess of 
Orleans, 74 ; refuses to make an 
arrangement with Madame Feu- 
ch^res, 88 ; her household, 114 et 
seq. ; order in her household, 
121; triumphant journey of, in 
the west of France, 224 et seq. ; 
at Chambord, 224; in the Vendee, 
225 et seq. ; at Nantes, 229; lays 
the corner-stone of a monument 
in honor of the Vendean victories, 
231; at Bordeaux, 233 et seq.; 
in the Pyrenees, 235 ; returns to 
Paris, 236 ; brilliancy of her soci- 
ety, 237; the Mary Stuart ball 
given by her, 237 ; takes the Gym- 
nase theatre under her protec- 
tion, 258; her relations with 
Scribe, 265; her affection for 
Dieppe, 266 ; the incidents of her 
visits there, 267 et seq. ; her 
kindness of heart shown at 
Dieppe, 270; her journey in the 
south of France, 292 et seq.; at 
Grenoble, 293. 

Bonapartism believed to bG dead, 
10. 

Bordeaux, enthusiasm over the 
Duchess of Berry in, 234. 

Bordeaux, the Duke of, 4, 6; and 
his sister, warned by their gov- 
erness against flattery, 181, 182; 
299 



300 



INDEX 



at his seventh year passes to the 
hands of the Duke of Riviere, 
183; his character described in a 
letter of the Duchess of Gontaut, 
184; his three governors, 187; 
his sub-governors and preceptor, 
193, 195. 

Bossuet, funeral oration of Madame 
Henriette preached by, in Saint- 
Denis, 37. 

Bourbon, Duke of, see Prince of 
Conde. 

Bourbons, remains of, recovered 
and reinterred in Saint-Denis, 
26. 

Bourmont, General, Count de, Sec- 
retary of War, his life and char- 
acter, 286 et seq.; his military 
ability, 289. 

Cadoudal Conspiracy, the, the 
Polignacs' part in, 279. 

Chabrol, Count of, address of, 46. 

Chantilly, the society at, 82; the 
life at, 86. 

Charlemagne, the crown of, 148, 
150. 

Charles X., accession of, 1 et seq. ; 
goes to Saint Cloud, 4 ; receives 
the felicitations of the Corps 
de r^tat, 5; makes a solemn 
entry into Paris, 11 ; an excellent 
horseman, 13; attends a review 
on the Champ-de-Mars, 14 et seq. ; 
his popularity, 17 ; not to be al- 
lowed to rest in Saint-Denis, 39 ; 
birth of, 41 ; attraction of his per- 
sonality, 42; his imposing man- 
ner, 43 ; the dignity of his private 
life, 44; Lamartine's estimate of 
his character, 45 ; his family, 48 ; 
had a kindly feeling for the Or- 
leans family, 75, 76 ; restores the 
Duke of Orleans to his former 
privileges and domain, 77 et seq.; 
his affection for the Duke of 
Bourbon, 86 ; his civil household, 
90 et seq. ; his military houseliold, 
96 ; routine of his court at Com- 



pi^gne, 98 ; deeply religious, 100 ; 
set a good example, 101 ; his gener- 
osity, 102 ; his character summed 
up, 102 ; decides to be crowned at 
Rheims, 125 ; at Compi^gne, 131 ; 
received at Rheims by the clergy, 
135; summoned to the corona- 
tion, 141; takes the oath, 146; 
anointed, 147; crowned, 148; sub- 
sequent ceremonies in which he 
officiated, 152 et seq. ; his vest- 
ments, 153; confers orders, 155 
et seq.; visits the hospital and 
touches scrofulous patients, 157 ; 
at the abbey of Saint Remi, 157; 
reviews the troops, 158 ; re-enters 
Paris, 160; fete to, by the city 
of Paris, 163; his piety a cause 
of offence, 166; his pledge to 
Madame de Polastron, 167; his 
exemplary life, 168; assists at 
the ceremony of the Jubilee, 170 ; 
hostility shown to, at the expia- 
tory ceremony, 173 ; his amiable 
yet severe character, 175; his 
life exemplary, 176 ; at Holyrood, 
as the Count d'Artois, 179; be- 
loved by the court, 198; the 
National Guard received by, 
at the Tuileries, 199 ; withdraws 
the law as to the press, 200 ; re- 
fuses to countermand the review 
of the National Guards, 200 ; re- 
views the National Guards, 201 et 
seq. ; unfriendliness to, apparent, 
202 ; dissolves the National Guard, 
207; disregards the warnings of 
his friends, 208, 209 ; accused of 
giving too much time to the 
chase, 211 ; his popularity dwin- 
dling, 214; dismisses M. de 
Villele, 216 ; maintains relations 
with him, 218; his journey in the 
departments, 220; reception of, 
in Alsace, 221; visited by the 
King of Wiirtemberg in Alsace, 
222 ; confident of the future, 223 ; 
his reign illustrious from the 
point of view of arts and letters, 



INDEX 



301 



245; his generous treatment of 
writers and artists, 248; main- 
tains a high standard in music 
and the drama, 255 ; appoints the 
Polignac ministry, 276 et seq. ; 
frankness of Madame de Gontaut 
to, 281. 

Chartres, Duke of, 72 ; at the ball 
of Mary Stuart, 339. 

Chateaubriand, pamphlet of, on 
the accession of Charles X., 7; 
quoted, 25; urges Charles X. to 
be consecrated by a public coro- 
nation, 123, 131, 137; knighted 
by the King, 155 ; Memoir es 
d'outre-tombe quoted, 159; de- 
sired to replace the Duke of 
Montmorency as governor of the 
Duke of Bordeaux, 190; tries to 
persuade the King to change his 
ministry, 200; on General de 
Bourmont, 289. 

Cinq Mars, the, of Alfred de 
Vigny, 248. 

Compiegne, life of the court at, 98. 

Conde, Prince of, his career, 81 ; 
his household at Chantilly, 83; 
under the influence of Madame 
Feucheres, 84; fond of hunting, 
85 ; description of the life at his 
court, 86. 

Corbiere, M. de, 258. 

Coronation, the, of Charles X., 123 
et seq., 139; the persons present, 
140; ceremonies of, 141 et seq. 

Courier, Paul Louis, 78. 

Damas, Baron de, appointed gov- 
ernor of the Duke of Bordeaux, 
195, 196. 

Dawes, Sophie, 83. See Madame 
de Feucheres. 

D^bats, the, on the Polignac min- 
istry, 276 ; on Prince de Polignac, 
283. 

Delacroix, 249. 

Delaroche, Paul, 249. 

Delavigne, Casimir, 248. 

Dieppe, indebtedness of, to the 



Duchess of Berry, 266 ; inaugura- 
tion of a playhouse in, 267. 

Doudeauville, Duke Ambroise, on 
the King's religion, 101, 104; his 
eai'ly years, 105; his marriage, 
106 ; his career, 108 et seq. ; min- 
ister of the King's household, 
111 ; his death, 112 ; his concep- 
tion of a good woman, 112, 113; 
on the King's passion for the 
chase, 212, 285; on the King's 
change of ministers, 282 ; on the 
Prince de Polignac, 284; on the 
Count de Bourmont, 288. 

Brapeau Blanc, the, quoted, 46. 

Dumas, Alexandre, his Henri III. 
et la Cour, 248. 

Dumas, Alexandre, Jils, 246. 

Entrees, the classes of the, 92. 
Equerry, the First, 94. 

Fare, Cardinal de la, sermon of, 
before Charles X., 135. 

Feucheres, Baron of, his marriage 
to Soi^hie Dawes, 83. 

Feucheres, Madame de, her influ- 
ence over the Prince of Conde, 
84; her schemes with regard to 
his will, 87. 

Foy, General, subscriptions to the 
fund for his children, 79. 

Funeral ceremonies of Louis 
XVIIL, 30 et seq. 

Gerard, the painter, 249. 

Gervinus, the German historian, 
quoted, 278. 

Gontaut, Madame de, receives the 
announcement of the death of 
Louis XVIII., 3; relates an inci- 
dent of the royal entry into 
Paris, 12 ; incident of the King's 
hat related by, 80 ; her Memoirs, 
177; her birth, 178; exile, 179; 
at Holyrood witli the Count 
d'Artois, 180 ; with Louis XVIII. 
at Hartwell, 180 ; made governess 
of the Children of France, 181; 



W2 



INDEX 



created Duchess, 183; letter of, 
to the Duke de Riviere couceru- 
ing the young Duke of Bordeaux, 
183; her frankness to Charles 
X., 186; hears of Polignac's ap- 
pointment from London, 281. 

Grand Chamberlain of France, 91. 

Grand Huntsman, the, 95. 

Grand Master of Ceremonies, the, 
95. 

Grand Master of France, the, 90. 

Grenoble, the Duchess of Berry at, 
293. 

Gros, the painter, 249. 

Guizot, on Prince de Polignac, 
282, 290. 

Gymnase, the, called the Theatre de 
Madame, 48; under the protec- 
tion of the Duchess of Berry, 
257; origin of, 257 et seq. 

Haussonville, Count d', on Charles 
X., 42; on the coronation, 139, 
144 ; on the ceremony of the Or- 
der of the Holy Ghost, 154; on 
the unsatisfactory reception of 
the King on re-entering Paris, 
161; on the nobility, 164. 

Heim, picture of Charles X. dis- 
tributing the prizes for the Ex- 
position of 1824, 249. 

Hernani, first representation of, 
247. 

Holy Ghost, ceremony of the Or- 
der of, at Rheims, 152; persons 
presented, 152. 

Household, civil, of the King, 
90. 

Households of the Dauphin, Dau- 
phiness, and the Duchess of 
Berry, 96. 

Hugo, Victor, 159; works of, pub- 
lished under Charles X., 246, 247, 
248. 

Huntley, Marquis of, opens the 
Mary Stuart ball with Mademoi- 
selle, 239. 

Ingres, 249. 



Joinville, Prince de, 73. 
Jubilee celebrated in Paris in 1826, 
169. 

La Belle Fermiere, 261. 

La Rosier e, 258. 

Lamartine, his estimate of the 
character of Charles X., 44, 159; 
the poet of the Restoration, 245, 
246. 

Lamennais, M. de, on the new min- 
isters, 290. 

Lamy, Eugene, painted a picture 
of the Mary Stuart ball, 243. 

Lenoir, Alexander, supervisor of 
the destruction of the royal 
tombs at Saint-Denis, 23; his 
Histoire des Arts en France pour 
les Monuments, 25. 

Lisle, Leconte de, M., 246. 

Louis XVI., remains of, transferred 
to Saint-Denis, 25; remains of, 
reiuterred in Saint-Denis, 27; 
relics of, preserved by the Duch- 
ess of Angouleme, 52 ; coronation 
of, 123; expiatory ceremony in 
honor of, 172. 

Louis XVII., relics of his imprison- 
ment, 52. 

Louis XVIII., gathering of cour- 
tiers in the Tuileries at his death, 
1; funeral solemnities of, 20 et 
Sag. ; funeral of, 29 et seq. ; sus- 
picions of the Duke of Orleans, 
75. 

Louis Philippe, see Duke of Or- 
leans. 

Mademoiselle, her reply when told 
of the King's death, 4, 6 ; at 
Dieppe, 271. 

Mallet, General, 280. 

Mareschal, M. Jules, as to his royal 
appreciation of artists and writ- 
ers, 250. 

Marie Amelie, see Duchess of Or- 
leans. 

Marie Antoinette, remains of, 
transferred to Saint-Denis, 25; 



INDEX 



303 



remains of, reinterred in Saint- 
Denis, 27 ; relics of, preserved by 
the Duchess of Angouleme, 52. 

Marie Christine, about to wed Fer- 
dinand VII., 292; her journey 
with the Duchess of Berry in the 
south of France, 295. 

Marie Therese of Savoy, 44. 

Marmont, Marshal, on the acces- 
sion of Charles X., 2. 

Martignac, M. de, succeeds M. de 
Villele in the Ministry of the 
Interior, 217. 

Mary Stuart ball given by the 
Duchess of Berry, 237 et seq. ; 
the personages and the costumes, 
238 et seq., 242. 

Mesnard, Count Charles de, on the 
reputation for frivolity of the 
Duchess of Berry, 66 ; relates in- 
stances of her kindness of heart, 
67, 68, 119, 

Meyerbeer, 254. 

Michelet, 248. 

Moniteur, the, quoted, 20, 35, 163, 
172 ; on the j)rocession during the 
expiatory ceremony at Paris, 
172. 

Montmirail, Mademoiselle de, 
married to the Duke of Doudeau- 
ville, 106; a sister of the Countess 
of Montesquiou, 110. 

Montmorency, Duke Mathieu, his 
career, 187 et seq. 

Montpensier, Duke of, 73. 

Musset, Alfred de, 248. 

Napoleon intends to provide sepul- 
ture for himself at Saint-Denis, 
24; coronation of, at Notre 
Dame, 125. 

Napoleon III. not buried in Saint- 
Denis, 39 ; magnificent vault 
built by, in Saint-Denis, 40. 

National Guard, the review of, 199 
et seq. ; goes on guard at the 
Tuileries, 199. 

Nemours, Duke of, 73. 

Nettement, M. de, as to the gener- 



osity of the Duchess of Berry, 
121. 
Noailles, Countess of, the, 116. 

Orleans, Duke of, his marriage, 72 ; 
his children, 73; suspected by 
Louis XVIII., 75; receives the 
title of Royal Highness from 
Charles X., 76; and is restored 
by him to his former privileges 
and domain, 77 ; his share of the 
indemnity, 78 ; finesses, 79. 

Orleans, Duchess of, on the an- 
nouncement of the accession of 
Charles X., 2, 72, 74 ; intrigues 
with Madame Feucheres, 88, 89. 

Orleans, Mademoiselle d', 72. 

Orleanism, as yet a myth, 10; ex- 
istence of, unsuspected by Charles 
X., 198. 

Orleanist party, the, begins to take 
form, 78. 

Oudinot, Marechale, lady of honor 
to the Duchess of Berry, 114; 
eulogy of, by the Abbe Tripled, 
115. 

Paris, royal entry into, 12 ; review 
of troops by Charles X. at the 
Champ-de-Mars, 15; celebration 
of the Jubilee in, 170. 

Pene, M. de, on Chateaubriand, 
191. 

Penthi^vre, Duke of, 73. 

Polastron, Countess of, 44; her 
death-bed request of Charles X., 
167. 

Polignac, Duke Armand de, 279. 

Polignao, Prince Jules de, made 
minister, 276 ; his history, 278 et 
seq.; indiscretion of , 281 ; refused 
to recognize the Charter, 282 ; op- 
position encountered by, 282, 284. 

Polignac, Duchess of, 279. 

Pontmartin, Count Armand de, his 
portrait of the Duchess of Berry, 
69. 

Press, withdrawal of the law as to, 
200. 



804 



INDEX 



Pujol, Abel de, 250. 

Puymaigre, Count de, quoted, 16 ; 
on the imposing- manner of 
Charles X., 43; on the Duke of 
Angouleme, 50; on the Duchess 
of Angouleme, 54; his account 
of the Prince of Conde and his 
household, 82 et seq. ; his account 
of the life at court, 98 ; on the 
freedom of manners at Charles 
X. court, 100. 

Recamier, Madame de, letters to, 
on the death of the Duke of 
Montmorency, 189. 

Reggio, Duchess of, 114. 

Review of the National Guard, 
the ministry try to dissuade the 
King from, 200. 

Rheims, cathedral of, repaired for 
the coronation of Charles X., 
12G, 130; the rich display in, 141 ; 
subsequent ceremonies in, 152; 
preparations in, for the corona- 
tion of Charles X., 129; crowds 
of tourists in, 131. 

Riviere, Duke of, becomes gov- 
ernor of the Duke of Bordeaux, 
183 ; career of, 191 et seq. ; his 
devotion to the Duke of Bor- 
deaux, 194; his death, 195. 

Robespierre, 52. 

Rochefoucauld, de La, Viscount Sos- 
thenes, warns the King of his 
danger, 209 et seq., 213, 214, 218; 
on the King's generosity, 102, 
104; at the head of the depart- 
ment of the Fine Arts, 245; his 
report upon the stage, 250; of 
Talma, 251; of Rossini, 252; aim 
to raise the moral level of the 
theatre, 254; letters of, to the 
King, 255. 

Rohan-Soubise, Charlotte-Elisa- 
beth de, 87. 

Rosny, the pleasure house of the 
Duchess of Berry, 65. 

Royal Family, members and titles 
of, 48. 



Rossini, 271 ; first representation 
of his works in Paris, 252. 

Saint-Denis, royal tombs of, 21 
et seq.; the destruction of, by 
the revolutionists, 22 ; the monu- 
ments saved of, by Lenoir, 23 
Napoleon's intention to provide 
a sepulture for himself at, 24 
remains of the Bourbon's re 
covered and reinterred in, 26 
impressiveness of the church to- 
day, 36. 

Saverne, reception of the king in, 
220. 

Schnetz, 250. 

Scribe, Eugene, invokes the pro- 
tection of the Duchess of Berry 
in a vaudeville, 258; writes for 
the Gymnase, 259; account of 
his life and career, 259 et seq.; 
his curious piece Avant, Pen- 
dant, Apres, 263; a man of let- 
ters solely, 265. 

Scrofulous patients touched by the 
King at Rheims, 157. 

Seraine, Abbe, declaration of, con- 
cerning the holy ampulla, 127. 

Sevis, Duke de, 118. 

Strasbourg, the reception of the 
King in, 221; munitions of war 
in, 222. 

Talma, 251. 

Talleyrand, Prince de, part taken 

by, at the obsequies of Louis 

XVIII., 33, 173, 191. 
Thierry, Augustin, 248. 

Vaudemont, Louise de, 28. 

Vaulabelle, M. de, quoted, 18, 173. 

Vedrenne, Abbe, on the character 
of Charles X., 175; on the duty 
of the governor of the young 
prince, 196; quoted, 277. 

Vende'e, the, the Duchess of Berry's 
visit to, 225 et seq.; enthusiasm of 
the inhabitants of, for her, 228. 

Vernet, Horace, 248. 



INDEX 



305 



Victorine, Madame, remains of, re- 
interred in Saint-Denis, 27. 

Vigny, Alfred de, his Cinq Mars, 
248. 

Viel-Castel, M. de, as to the policy 
of Charles X., 44. 

Villele, M. de, favorite minister 
of Charles X., 43; knighted by 
the King, 155; admits to the 
King that animosity to the clergy 
was displayed during the expia- 
tory ceremony, 174; assailed by 
the Guard, 204; advises the King 



to dissolve National Guard of 
Paris, 205; dismissed by the 
King, 216; in relations with, 
218 ; letter of the King, 220. 

Villemain, M., quoted, 18; on the 
secret of Scribe's success, 262. 

Villeneuve-l'l^tang, the pleasure 
house of the Duchess of Angou- 
leme, 65. 

Wellington, Duke of, 281. 
Wtirtemberg, King of, visits 
Charles X. at Strasbourg, 222. 



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